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THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  DATE 
INDICATED  BELOW  AND  IS  SUB- 
JECT TO  AN  OVERDUE  FINE  AS 
POSTED  AT  THE  CIRCULATION 
DESK. 


ILL  (*3SJJ(*>^ 
|6>  A^^ 


THE    GRAPE    VINE 


A   PRACTICALLY   SCIENTIFIC    TREATISE    ON 


ITS    MANAGEMENT. 


EXPLAINED    FROM    HIS  OWN    EXPERIENCES    AND    RESEARCHES,  IN    A    THOROUGH 

AND    INTELLIGIBLE    MANNER,    FOR    VINETARDISTS    AND    AMATEURS    IN 

GARDEN    AND    VINE    CULTURE, 


BY 

FREDERICK    MOHR, 

DOCTOR   OF   PHILOSOPHY  AND   MEDICINE,  ETC. 


TRANSLATED    FROM    THE    GERMAN,    AND    ACCOMPANIED    WITH    HUNTS    ON     THE 
PROPAGATION  AND  GENERAL  TREATMENT  OF  AMERICAN  VARIETIES, 

BY 

HORTICOLA. 


NEW-YORK: 

ORANGE    JUDD    &    COMPANY, 

41   PARK  ROW. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1867,  by 

ORANGE  JUDD  &  CO. 

At  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New-York. 


Lovkjot  &  Son, 

Electbotypers  and  Stereotypics. 

15  Vandewater  street  N.  Y. 


PREFACE  OF  THE  AUTHOR. 


To  popularize  the  results  of  modern  science  concerning 
the  cultivation  of  the  grape-vine,  is  the  object  which  I 
desire  to  accomplish  by  publishing  this  work.  For  this 
purpose  the  subject  required  to  be  reached  from  two  direc- 
tions— the  earnest  study  of  the  sciences,  and  the  practical 
cultivation  of  the  vine.  Progress  made  by  mere  practice, 
is  slow  and  uncertain ;  science  is  too  far  removed  from 
life.  Botli  must  be  united  to  produce  a  material  benefit. 
In  the  works  extant,  generally  but  one  of  the  two  stand- 
points has  been  kept  in  view. 

My  native  city  is  so  situate  that  I,  with  one  hand,  can 
dip  the  water  of  the  Rhine,  with  the  other,  that  of  the 
Moselle — those  two  rivers,  on  the  banks  of  which  the 
noblest  vines  are  produced. 

The  exclusively  practical  works,  so  abundant  in  our 
literature,  could  not  give  me  satisfaction.  The  connec- 
tion of  cause  and  effect  is  not  clearly  understood ;  thus 
the  explanation  could  not  be  otherwise  than  erroneous. 
What  mere  practice  could  effect,  has  been  done  long  ago ; 
without  the  guidance  of  science,  improvement  had  become 
impossible. 

I  have  cultivated  the  vine  practically,  following  JTecht, 
and  I  have  reason  to  boast  of  my  success.  Kechfs  ar- 
3 


IV  PREFACE. 

rangement,  however,  and  his  manner  of  treating  the  sub- 
ject leave  much  to  be  desired.  He  distinguishes  in  a 
vine  eleven  different  things,  some  of  which  are  the  natural 
products  of  the  vine,  viz. :  shoots  and  tendrils;  others  are 
the  products  of  the  hand  of  man,  viz. :  spurs  and  arms. 
This  causes  confusion. 

The  explanation  of  the  growth  of  the  vine,  as  well  as  its 
anatomy,  as  given  in  this  book,  is  entirely  new.  The 
chapter  on  manuring  has  assumed  a  form  altogether  dif- 
ferent from  that  in  other  books.  It  was  all-important  to 
elucidate  fully  the  causes  for  pruning,  and  to  show  why  it 
has  to  be  performed  in  the  manner  described,  and  in  no 
other,  because,  without  this  example,  custom  and  authority 
cannot  be  supplanted. 


PREFACE  OF  THE  TRANSLATOR. 


The  translation  of  the  treatise  which  we  offer  to  the 
American  public,  is  the  first  part  of  Dr.  Frederic  Mohr's 
work  On  the  Treatment  of  the  Grape-vine  and  on  Wine- 
making  {Der  WeinstocJc  und  der  Wein.)  The  author  is 
one  of  the  greatest  chemists  of  the  age.  That  Justus 
Liebeg  is  one  of  his  intimate  personal  friends,  is  well 
known,  and  evident  from  the  fact  that  he  wrote  the  second 
part  of  Dr.  Mohr's  standard  work  on  Chemical  Analysis 
'by  Measure  {die  Titrir  Methode),  detailing  the  analysis  of 
soils.  It  has  not  often  been  the  case  that  scientific  qualifi- 
cations and  practical  skill  have  been  so  happily  united  as  we 
admire  them  in  Dr.  Mohr,  whose  preface  explains  his  stand- 
point as  well  as  the  object  he  seeks  to  accomplish,  that 
is,  the  explanation  and  practical  application  to  viticulture 
of  the  results  of  modern  science.  His  book  does  not  in- 
terfere with  any  work  extant ;  it  is  rather  a  complement 
to  all  of  them,  as  its  object  is  to  explain  the  principles  of 
viticulture,  and  describes  only  a  few  methods  of  training  for 
the  sake  of  illustration.  In  Germany,  it  is  considered  as  the 
best  and  most  thorough  book  on  the  Culture  of  the  Grape 
vine  among  their  many  works  on  the  same  subject. 
In  a  recent  letter  to  me,  Dr.  Edw.  Lucas,  the  great 
Pomologist,  whom  I  had  requested  to  give  me  a  list  of 
5 


VI  PKEFACE. 

the  best  books  on  viticulture,  says  :  "Dr.  Mohr's  book  is 
the  most  thorough  and  best  of  all."  It  does  not  need  my 
I •  raise  ;  it  will  speak  for  itself. 

Although  the  second  part  of  the  original  On  Wine- 
making  js  as  important  as  the  first,  yet  I  concluded  to 
separate  the  two,  as  there  are  many  more  persons  inter- 
ested in  the  cultivation  of  the  vine  than  in  making  wine. 
I  shall,  however,  commence  the  translation  of  the  second 
part  very  soon. 

In  regard  to  the  hints  on  the  propagation  and  the  gen- 
eral treatment  of  American  varieties  which  I  have  added, 
I  hope  to  meet  the  wants  of  many  readers.  Being  very 
far  from  assuming  the  task  of  giving  instruction,  I  wish 
only  to  encourage  such  as  may  feel  disposed  to  devote 
part  of  their  leisure  hours  to  a  branch  of  horticulture 
which  is  as  pleasant  as  it  is  useful. 

I  cannot  let  this  occasion  pass,  without  expressing  my 
admiration  of  the  great  zeal  and  enthusiasm  with  which 
viticulture  is  pursued  in  this  country  at  present.  The 
names  of  Longworth  and  Underhill  will,  in  the  history  of 
American  Grape  Culture,  never  be  forgotten.  But  it  is 
chiefly  due  to  the  indefatigable  exertions  of  Dr.  C.  W? 
Grant,  of  Iona,  that,  especially  at  the  East,  the  love  for 
viticulture  was  awakened,  and  is  now  so  irresistibly  spread- 
ing. The  labors  of  the  editors  of  the  Horticultural  Maga- 
zines, Messrs.  Mead,  Woodward,  Meehan,  Hovey  and 
Tilton,  and  those  of  the  editors  of  the  Agricultural  Peri- 
odicals, such  as  the  American  Agriculturist,  the  Country 
Gentleman,  and  others,  can  not  be  too  highly  appreciated. 
Dr.  Grant's  Illustrated  Catalogues  and  Manual  of 
Grape  Culture,  have  had  the  most  happy  influence  on 
spreading  sound  views  on  the  treatment  of  the  grape 
among  large  numbers  of  people. 

Andrew  S.  Fuller's  Grape  Culturist  appeared  at  the 
right  time.  It  is  a  full,  clear  exposition  of  all  that  is, 
needed  for  practical  success.     The  author  treats  the  sub- 


PREFACE.  Vn 

ject  in  so  lucid  and  comprehensive  a  manner,  that  his  book 
will  be  used  for  a  long  time  to  come.  The  works  of 
Ernst,  Muench,  Strong,  Husmann,  and  others,  will  continue 
doing  good  wherever  they  are  known. 

I  have  abstained  from  interrupting  Dr.  Mohr's  text  by 
inserting  remarks  except  in  one  or  two  places;  the  chapter 
on  mildew  I  shortened,  omitting  what  relates  to  arrange- 
ments to  be  made  in  towns  and  villages  against  the 
Oidium,  because  those  arrangements  are  utterly  impracti- 
cable in  this  country. 

I  am  in  the  habit  of  contributing  occasionally  some 
trifles  to  several  of  our  Horticultural  magazines  under  the 
nom-de-plume  Hortlcola.  They  have  been  received  by  the 
horticultural  public  in  the  spirit  in  which  I  wrote  them ; 
to  collect  and  establish  facts,  is  the  only  aim  I  have  in 
view.  I  hope  some  may  profit  by  my  little  success,  and 
be  saved  from  disappointment  by  my  failures ;  for  I  state 
both,  frankly  and  candidly.  In  order  not  to  mislead  any 
body  that  knows  me  under  my  nom-de-plume,  I  retain  it 
on  the  title  of  this  translation.  The  praise  this  little  book 
merits,  belongs  to  Dr.  Mohr ;  all  I  claim  for  my  hints  is 
the  indulgence  of  the  readers. 

Charles  Siedhof, 

Weehawken,  JV.  J. 


CONTENTS. 


The  Grape  Vine 9 

Development  and  Structure  of  the  Vine 12 

The  Node 12 

The  Branch. 15 

Reasons  for  Pruning 21 

Pruning  the  Vine 25 

Training  on  Trellises 26 

Treatment  of  the  Vine  in  Summer 32 

Grape  Vine  Plantations 39 

Vines  Trainedalong  the  Garden  Walk 39 

Trellises  on  Walls 42 

Free  Trellises 44 

Vines  Trained  to  Trellises 48 

Bronner's  Method 49 

Time  Required  for  Covering  a  Trellis 55 

Manuring  the  Vine 57 

Age  of  the  Vineyard , 69 

The  Rising  Sap  in  the  Vine 73 

The  Grape  Disease *! 76 

Treatment  of  Vines  Injured  by  Frost S3 

Implements 86 

Proper  Time  to  Perform  Work  on  the  Vine 90 

Constituents  of  the  Vine  and  their  Distribution 94 

Propagation  of  the  Vine 99 

"  By  Layers 100 

"  By  Cuttings 102 

"  By  Grafting Ill 

"  By  Inarching 113 

"  By  Seeds US 

Hybridization 117 

American  Varieties— General  Management 119 

"  "  Planting 119 

Pruning 122 

"  "  Pinching 125 

"  "  Covering  in  Fall 126 

8 


THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

The  grape  vine  is,  among  the  plants,  what  the  horse  is 
among  animals, — one  of  the  most  precious  boons  nature  has 
given  to  man.  It  follows  him  to  climates  of  a  very  different 
character,  and  admirably  rewards  him  for  all  the  trouble 
devoted  to  it.  As  in  the  horse,  everything  in  the  grape 
vine  is  beautiful  and  noble.  The  delicately  shaped  leaves, 
the  fragrant  blossoms,  the  delicious  grapes,  extend  their 
development  over  the  whole  year,  except  during  the  severe 
months  of  winter,  and  require  uninterrupted  and  careful 
treatment  by  the  hand  of  man.  The  grape  vine  grows  on 
the  rocky  hill,  and  in  the  fertile  garden,  trails  on  the 
ground  and  climbs  to  the  roofs  of  houses.  By  training  it 
may  be  kept  as  a  small  shrub,  or  made  to  cover  a  surface 
of  a  thousand  square  feet. 

The  grape  vine  changes  its  character,  and  adapts  itself 
in  a  wonderful  manner  to  every  country,  that  affords  it 
the  necessary  warmth.  With  facility  it  produces,  in  the 
hand  of  man,  new  varieties,  which  conform  themselves  to 
all  circumstances.  The  difference'  in  the  varieties  is  as 
great  as  in  tne  various  races  of  dogs.  The  berry  varies 
in  size  from  that  of  a  large  pea  to  that  of  a  cherry ;  its 
color  is  green,  yellow,  flesh  color,  red,  blue,  and  black. 
Sweetness  and  acidity  are  mixed  in  the  most  varying  pro- 
portions ;  its  aroma  is  unsurpassed. 

The  grape  is  decidedly  the  most  noble  of  fruits  ;  it  is 
sweeter  than  any  other,  and  the  admixture  of  a  little  acid 
9  1* 


10  THE    GEAPB    VINE. 

lenders  it  exceedingly  delicious.  The  liquid  contents  of 
the  grape  elevates  it  above  the  hard  apple.  It  is  the  only 
fruit  of  our  climate  which  is  drunk,  rather  than  eaten.  Fi- 
nally, the  fermented  juice  of  the  grape,  the  wine,  prolongs 
the  time  of  the  enjoyment  of  it  for  a  series  of  years.  For 
these  reasons,  the  treatment  or  the  grape  vine  and  of  wine 
have  frequently,  been  the  object  of  human  care,  and  even 
the  poets  have  not  felt  ashamed  to  be  inspired  by  it. 

The  grape  vine  is  a  plant  belonging  to  temperate  cli- 
mates. It  is  found  on  the  continent  within  a  zone,  the 
northern  border  of  which  extends  from  the  British  Chan- 
nel through  Northern  Germany,  to  the  north  of  the  Black 
and  the  Caspian  Seas  to  China ;  its  southern  border  is  the 
coast  of  Northern  Africa  to  Egypt,  where  the  line  bends 
from  Suez  to  the  point  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  not  touching 
the  sea  coast  any  more.  It  does  not  grow  in  Arabia  and 
Hindoostan. 

The  northern  border  of  the  vine  region  commences  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Loire,  (47^-°  N.  L.)  Receding  from  the 
Ocean,  it  suddenly  bends  northward,  and  extends  north 
of  Paris  to  50°  N.  L. ;  it  enters  Belgium  between  Maest- 
richt  and  Liege,  and  touches  near  Bonn,  at  the  fifty-first 
degree  of  N.  L. 

The  line  runs  along  the  banks  of  the*  Rhine  to  Mayence, 
where  it  passes  into  the  valley  of  the  Maine.  Thence  it 
passes  through  Thuringia,  touching  the  Elbe  near  Meissen. 
It  readies  Greenberg,  extending  through  Guben  to  Lau- 
satia,  where  it  reaches  the  fifty-second  degree  of  N.  L. 
Thence  the  line  bends  abruptly  towards  the  south,  and  in- 
cludes Bohemia.  The  borders  of  the  wine  region  do  not 
coincide  with  certain  isothermal  lines,  so  that  not  all 
countries  of  a  certain  average  warmth  are  fit  for  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  vine.  It  requires  a  long,  warm  summer, 
and  is  able  to  bear  a  considerable  degree  of  cold  in  the 
winter.  Although  the  winters  of  England  are  very  mild, 
yet  the  grape   vine  does  not  flourish  there,  because  the 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  11 

summers  are  not  warm  enough.  The  hard  frozen  soil  at 
Tokay,  in  Hungaria,  does  not  prevent  the  production  of 
wine  of  the  greatest  excellence.  A  sea  climate  is  favora- 
ble to  viticulture  only  in  lower  latitudes ;  in  Germany,  it 
extends  nearly  two  degrees  further  north  than  in  France, 
situated  nearer  to  the  Ocean.  Bordeaux,  on  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  produces  wines  similar  to  those  produced  in  Bur- 
gundy, which  is  considerably  more  northward,  but  inland. 

There  are,  without  those  borders,  here  and  there  certain 
places  where  the  vine  grows,  yet  it  is,  within  them,  con- 
fined to  certain  favorable  localities  and  cannot  be  grown 
everywhere.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  most  delicious  and 
precious  wines  are  produced,  almost  exclusively  near  the 
northern  border  of  its  cultivation.  The  noble  Ahrbleichert, 
and  the  Walporzheimer,  which  rivals  the  wine  of  Bordeaux 
and  Burgundy,  grow  immediately  on  the  northern  border 
of  viticulture.  Only  a  few  miles  further  north,  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  vine  in  vineyards  ceases  entirely,  and  the  vine 
is  only  found  growing  on  trellises  and  houses.  The  Johan- 
nisberg,  Ruedesheim,  Steinberg  and  Rauenthal,  are  grown 
on  the  northern  border  of  viticulture  in  the  Rhinegau, 
from  east  to  west.  Only  a  few  hundred  paces  to  the 
north,  there  are  the  Westerwald  and  the  Taunus. 

The  true  poetry  of  wine,  its  beautiful  fragrance,  called 
the  bouquet  of  the  wine,  is  the  exclusive  property  of  the 
northern  regions.  The  wines  of  the  south,  however  rich 
in  alcohol  and  sugar,  are  entirely  destitute  of  that  bou- 
quet; or  they  have  a  common  odor,  like  Port,  Madeira, 
Xeres,  and  Malaga,  without  any  peculiarity.  The  differ- 
ence, produced  by  localities  and  years,  disappears  in  the 
wines  of  those  regions  entirely,  but  it  may  be  distinguished 
in  those  of  northern  regions  with  great  accuracy. 

Viticulture  has  also  its  history ;  it  is  linked  with  that 
of  man.  The  vine  has  perished  in  regions  that  are  no 
longer  inhabited ;  and  where  it,  at  present,  grows  wild, 
there  it  was  not  originally  at  home. 


12  THE    GRAPE   VINE. 

The  Pramneic  and  Marseotic  wine  is  only  known  from 
Homer ;  and  such  as  was  given  by  Ulysses  to  the  Cyclopes, 
has  disappeared.  (  Vide  Homer's  Odysea,  IX,  208).  Wines, 
which  can  bear  that  poetical  dilution,  are  unknown  to  us. 
Also  the  Vinum  Ccecubvm,  Jfassiri/m  and  Falermim,  of 
Horace,  have  disappeared  from  causes  which  we  shall  learn 
afterwards. 

DEVELOPMENT  AND  STRUCTURE  OF  THE 
VINE. 

In  order  to  understand  the  rules  for  the  pruning  and 
the  treatment  of  the  vine,  it  is  necessary  to  study  the  very 
simple  structure  of  that  plant. 

Without  this  knowledge,  all  practical  rules  appear  en- 
tirely arbitrary ;  their  necessity  can  not  be  understood, 
nor  can  they  be  carried  out  with  the  proper  enthusiasm. 
The  rules  for  the  management  of  the  vine,  derived  from  a 
long  experience,  are  based  on  its  peculiar  structure,  and 
are,  as  soon  as  that  is  known,  intelligible  in  themselves. 
In  particular  cases,  where  horticultural  books  fail  us,  we 
are  able  to  infer  the  true  treatment  of  the  vine  from  the 
knowledge  of  its  structure.  We,  therefore,  premise  an 
accurate  explanation  of  the  structure  of  the  vine  in  a 
manner  not  before  attempted ;  then  the  practical  instruc- 
tion will  follow. 

THE    NODE. 

That  organ,  by  the  repetition  of  which  the  vine  is  con- 
structed, is  the  node  in  the  branch.  If  we  look  at  a  fresh 
shoot  of  a  vine,  we  see  that  it  has  nodes,  (or  joints,)  from 
three  to  five  inches  distant  from  each  other,  and  at  these 
places  all  other  organs  of  the  vine  are  put  forth  nearly  at 
the  same  level.  These  nodes  are  repeated  on  a  shoot  in 
a  manner  perfectly  alike,  only  the  organs  grow  in  a  re- 
versed posi^on  of  right  and  left  in  each  following  node. 


THE    GRAPE    VINE. 


13 


We  will  now  carefully  examine  the  node.  We  take  a 
branch  which  grew  from  an  eye  in  the  last  spring,  and  is,  in 
the  course  of  the  summer,  still  green.  Fig.  1,  represents 
such  a  node.  Where  the  swelling  has  not  quite  reached 
its  greatest   dimensions,  there  is,  in  the  branch,  a  joint. 


Fig.  1. — the  :node. 

A  young  branch  breaks  easily  in  this  place  when  bent 
towards  one  side.  On  the  lower  side  there  is  either  noth- 
ing or  only  the  leaf — all  protruding  organs  grow  on  the 
upper  part.  This  structure  shows  that  the  wood  fibers  do 
not,  as  yet,  run  through.  While  a  branch  cannot  be 
broken  off  smoothly  in  any  other  place,  it  is  there  very 
brittle.  In  the  course  of  time  this  joint  disappears;  the 
fibers  run  through,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  the"  summer 
a  node  cannot  be  broken  off  in  this  place.  Immediately 
above  the  place  where  it  is  broken,  there  is  on  one  side,  1st, 
a  leaf,  the  footstalk  of  which  commences  with  a  protu- 
berance.    The  leaf  itself  is  connected  with  the  branch  by 


It  TIIK   GRAPE    VINE. 

moans  of  a  joint.  It  is  easier  to  break  it  off  in  this  place 
than  in  any  other,  without  protruding  filaments.  The 
joint  docs  not  grow  over,  and  in  the  fall  the  leaf  separates 
at  this  point. 

In  the  axil  of  the  leaf,  :2nd,  one  or  two  unequally  large 
buds  grow,  from  which  the  so-called  laterals  proceed. 
Generally  only  one  lateral  grows;  should  there  be  double 
buds,  the  weaker  ones  must  always  be  destroyed.  By  the 
si  tie  of  the  lateral  a  new  eye,  the  so-called  dormant  bud, 
forms  in  the  course  of  the  summer.  It  is  intended  to  re- 
main during  the  winter  on  the  vine,  and  to  furnish,  in  the 
next  spring,  a  green  branch.  On  carefully  examining  those 
buds,  we  find  that  on  two  nodes  succeeding  each  other, 
the  bud  is  in  one  of  them  to  the  right  of  the  lateral,  and 
in  the^other  to  the  left  of  it.  The  branch  growing  from 
the  bud  is  attached  to'the  main  cane  by  means  of  a  joint, 
and  can,  as  long  as  it  is  young,  be  easily  broken  off  in 
this  place.  In  the  latter  part,  of  the  summer,  however, 
the  wood  fibers  grow  through,  and  the  secondary  branch 
cannot  then  be  broken  off  at  the  joint. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  leaf  and  bud,  but  at  the 
same  level  with  them,  there  is,  3d,  a  tendril  or  a  cluster,  but 
without  a  joint.  The  fibers  run  through  from  the  very 
beginning,  there  is  no  articulation,  and  the  tendril  or 
the  cluster  cannot  be  broken  off  at  the  place  of  its  origin. 
The  tendril,  or  the  peduncle  of  the  cluster,  dries  up  in  the 
fall,  but  never  drops ;  they  are  separated  from  the  cane  in 
the  following  year  by  motion  and  wind,  because  they  are 
brittle.  Tendril  and  cluster  are  identical  organs.  There 
are  tendrils  with  some  few  berries  on  them,  and  clusters 
with  a  piece  of  a  tendril  without  berries.  Tendril  and 
cluster  never  grow  by  the  side  of  each  other.  One  proof 
of  their  identity  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  they  grow 
from  the  cane  without  a  joint,  and  that  they  dry  up  in  the 
fall,  and  do  not  drop. 

If  there  are  tendrils  on  two  successive  nodes,  the  third 


THE    GRAPE    YIXE.  15 

node  is  always  without  them,  and  the  place  of  the  node 
opposite  the  leaf,  and  the  bud  presents  a  roundish  protuber- 
ance without  any  branch.  A  node  destitute  of  tendrils  is 
succeeded  by  two  nodes  with  tendrils,  and  so  in  regular 
order  to  the  end  of  the  branch. 

As  tendril  and  cluster  are  identical  organs,  it  follows 
that  three  successive  nodes  never  bear  clusters ;  if  more 
than  two  clusters  proceed  from  one  bud,  then,  the  third 
and  fourth  clusters  are  separated  from  the  first  and  second 
by  a  node  destitute  of  tendrils. 

Recapitulating  briefly,  we  find  that  the  organs  on  a 
node  are  distinguished  by  the  following  peculiarities : 

1.  The  leaf  is  connected  witli  the  branch  by  a  joint, 
through  which  no  fibers  grow,  but  from  which  it  drops  of 

itself." 

2.  The  bud  is  connected  with  the  branch  by  a  joint, 
through  which  the  fibers  grow  and  harden.  It  does  not 
drop. 

3.  The  tendril  or  cluster  is  connected  with  the  branch 
without  a  joint.  The  place  of  the  connection  dries  up, 
and  it  does  not  drop  of  itself. 

THE    BRANCH. 

The  branch  originates  in  the  repetition  of  the  nodes. 
The  distance  of  two  nodes  from  each  other  is  smaller  on 
the  lower  part  of  the  cane,  greater  on  the  upper  part,  gen- 
erally from  three  to  five  inches,  but  oftentimes  more,  or 
less/  On  each  of  the  succeeding  nodes  the  organs  are 
found  alternating  with  the  preceding  and  following.  In 
the  place  where  there  is  a  leaf  on  one  node  there  is  a  ten- 
dril, or  a  bunch  in  the  preceding  and  following  one. 

The  number  of  the  nodes  on  a  branch  is  very  large, 
commonly  from  25  to  30.  I  have  counted  sometimes  as 
many  as  83  on  strong  growing  varieties.  The  number  is, 
properly  speaking,  unlimited,  for  in  the  fall  the  growth  of 


16 


TIIK    GRAPE    VINE. 


the  branch  terminates,  as  is  shown  in  figure  2,  exactly 
with  the  same  fan-like  structure,  with  which  it  commenced 
in  the  spring. 


Fig.  2. — THE   BRANCH. 

In  this  lie  enclosed  innumerable  nodes,  the  development 
of  which  is  only  prevented  by  the  ending  of  the  season 
of  growth,  and  the  exhausted  vigor  of  the  plant.  In  a 
warm  summer  and  climate,  therefore,  many  more  nodes 
will  grow  than  in  a  cold  one. 

On  a  shoot  grown  in  the  spring,  there  is  only  a  limited 
number  of  blossoms  or  bunches.  They  are  produced  only 
on  the  lower  part  of  thc*green  shoot,  almost  without  any 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  17 

regularity.  The  shoot  commences  with  three  or  four 
nodes,  which  are  either  without  blossoms  or  have  only 
small  tendrils ;  then  two  clusters  follow ;  then  a  node 
without  a  tendril,  (as  in  fig.  2)  ;  then  the  third  cluster ; 
then  again  tendrils,  which  grow  the  larger  the  nearer 
they  are  to  the  top  of  the  shoot. 

The  number  of  clusters  on  a  green  shoot  depends  on 
the  variety  of  the  vine.  The  rule  is  two  clusters  from 
one  bud,  sometimes  from  three  to  five  ;  I  have  never  seen 
more  than  five  clusters.  If  the  latter  part  of  the  winter 
and  the  forepart  of  spring  are  warm,  oftentimes  three 
clusters  grow  from  one  bud,  even  if  the  variety  bears  gen- 
erally but  two.  If  we  recollect  that  an  eye  produces,  on 
the  average,  three  bunches,  but  that  the  shoot  may  pro- 
duce from  thirty  to  seventy  nodes,  it  is  obvious  that  a 
grape  vine  can  produce  a  large  quantity  of  wood  and 
leaves  which  are  useless  for  the  production  of  grapes. 
The  clusters  grow  especially  from  the  lowermost  nodes. 
The  longest  tendrils  are  found  on  the  uppermost  nodes, 
where  the  plant  needs  the  most  support.  If  a  tendril 
touches  a  solid  body  only  slightly,  it  bends  towards  it, 
coils  several  times  around  it,  and  holds  to  it  firmly.  The 
cause  of  this  must  lie  in  the  structure  of  the  tendril,  which 
is  different  from  all  other  parts  of  the  vine,  in  the  fact 
that  it  dries  up  in  the  fall  without  dropping.  The  ten- 
drils seem  to  be  endowed  with  vision,  as  it  were,  because 
they  grow  towards  any  solid  body  near  them. 

The  eyes  of  the  shoots  are  all  of  the  same  nature. 
There  are  neither  wood  nor  fruit  buds  exclusively.  After 
an  unfavorable,  cold  season,  the  eyes  show  in  the  next 
spring  no  blossoms  ;  after  a  very  warm  season,  they  nearly 
all  produce  blossoms.  This  proves  that  the  blossoms  are 
a  higher  development  of  the  bud,  because  greater  heat 
was  necessary  for  it.  The  blossoms  are,  therefore,  always 
formed  in  the  preceding  year,  and  they  appear  in  the  fol- 
lowing, however  unfavorable  the  weather  may  be.     Thus 


18  THE    GRAPE    VINK. 

two  years  are  required  for  the  production  of  a  heavy  crop 
of  grapes. 

At  the  base  of  the  leaves  on  the  green  shoot,  there  al- 
ways grow  two  eyes.  One  of  them  pushes  during  the 
summer,  and  forms  what  is  called  the  lateral.  It  has 
been  already  mentioned  that,  alternately,  the  right  and 
the  left  eye  push  or  remain  dormant  on  two  successive 
nodes.  This  lateral  has  all  the  organs  like  every  other 
shoot,  and  a  whole  vine  may  be  grown  from  each  of  them. 
Generally,  the  word  lateral  is  believed  to  convey  the 
meaning  of  a  superfluous  organ,  which  nature  has  care- 
lessly produced.  This  view  is  entirely  erroneous,  and 
experiments  will  prove  that  the  lateral  is  capable  of 
producing  as  heavy  crops  as  the  most  vigorous  cane.  If 
a  lateral  is  broken  off,  the  other  eye  pushes,  and  a  new 
eye  commences  to  be  formed.  If  the  second  lateral  is 
also  broken  off,  the  new  eye  pushes,  and  another  dormant 
eye  is  formed.  This  may  be  repeated  six  or  seven  times 
during  a  warm  summer. 

Iff  on  the  contrary,  the  first  lateral  is  not  removed,  the 
dormant  eye  does  not  push,  and  it  is  changed,  in  the 
course  of  the  summer,  into  a  fruit  bud  for  the  next  year. 
Should,  however,  the  last  formed  eye  not  have  originated 
until  midsummer,  it  cannot  be  so  developed  that  it  be- 
comes a  fruit  bud,  and  it  produces  in  the  next  year  noth- 
ing but  leaves  and  wood. 

Hence  it  follows  that,  if  we  wish  a  certain  eye  to  be- 
come a  fruit  bud  for  the  next  year,  we  must  not  remove 
the  lateral  growing  beside  it.  If  the  laterals,  in  a  warm 
summer,  are  broken  off,  and  the  dormant  eye  pushes,  it 
often  shows  blossoms  in  August,  which  cannot  mature 
their  fruit  on  account  of  the  season  being  so  far  advanced. 
This  shows  conclusively  that  the  formation  of  blossom 
buds  takes  place  in  the  course  of  the  summer  preceding 
thai  of  the  production  of  fruit.  In  the  year  1858,  which 
was  unusually  warm,  the  fruit  of  the  second  blossoms  also 


THE    GRAPE    TIXE. 


19 


matured,  so  that  two  crops,  only  a  month  distant  from 
each  other,  were  obtained  from  Burgundy  vines.  The 
second  crop  was  less  abundant,  and  not  so  good  as  the  first. 
When  a  person,  without  any  knowledge  of  the  manage- 
ment of  the  vine,  breaks  oif  the  end  of  the  shoot  without 
any  definite  plan,  in  order  to  diminish  the  quantity  of  the 
foliage,  not  unfrequently  blossoms  appear  a  fortnight  after 
that  operation.  The  eyes  which  are  forced  in  this  way  to 
produce  blossoms  are  those  that  ought  to  have  been  de- 
veloped in  the  following  year.  The  eyes  formed  after- 
wards cannot  mature  their  blossoms  on  account  of  the 
lateness  of  the  season  in  which  they  are  formed. 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  understand  fully  this  mode 
of  the  growth  of  the  vine,  because  all  the  rules  for  grow- 
ing it,  so  as  to  obtain 
the  largest  quantity  of 
fruit  in  a  given  place, 
are  based  on  it. 

Towards  the  close  of 
the  season,  the  following 
changes  take  place  in 
the  shoots  that  have 
grown  from  an  eye  : 

1.  The  leaf  turns  yel- 
low, and  drops  from  the 
joint  of  itself. 

2.  The    peduncle,  or 
the  tendril    correspond- 
ing to  it,  dries  up,  but  does  not  drop  of  itself. 

o.  The  green  shoot  is  changed  into  wood  and  remains 
permanent,  the  joints  becoming  united  with  the  shoot  by 
the  two  growing  together. 

4.  The  screen  color  of  the  shoot  is  turned  brown.  The 
wood  matures. 

5.  The  eye  remains  dormant  until  the  following  spring. 
The  new  branch  has  now  the  form  of  figure  8. 


FiG*.  3.— THE  NODE   IN  AUTUMN. 


20  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

At  A,  below  the  eye,  the  place  is  visible  where  the  foot 
stalk  of  the  leaf  was  attached  ;  above,  there  is  the  eye,  J?, 
which  is  going  to  push  in  the  following  year,  and  to.  bear 
fruit.  A  second  eye  does  not  exist  during  the  winter ;  it 
is  developed  in  the  next  spring.  Beside  the  eye,  B,  the 
lateral,  (7,  is  visible.  It  is  to  be  removed  entirely  in  the 
fall.  On  the  opposite  side  there  is  the  tendril,  D,  or  the 
peduncle  of  the  bunch,  dried  up. 

The  first  period  of  the  life  of  the  shoot  terminates  by 
changing  its  succulent  nature  into  wood.  In  the  first 
year  it  bears  clusters  attached  to  it  with  their  peduncles; 
in  the  next  year  no  cluster  grows  immediately  on  it,  but 
on  the  green  shoot  which  pushes  from  the  eye  perfected 
in  the  preceding  year.  Consequently  the  shoot  bears  clus- 
ters only  once  in  its  life  ;*in  the  next  year  they  appear  on 
the  shoot  from  the  eye ;  in  the  third  year  on  the  shoot 
that  grows  from  the  shoot;  in  the  fourth  year  on  the 
shoot  of  the  shoot  which  grows  from  the  shoot,  and  so  on, 
ad  infinitum. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  introduce,  instead  of  the  generally 
used  expression  branch,  those  terms  which  are  made  use 
of  in  viticulture. 

As  soon  as  the  green  shoot  has  changed  its  color  and 
turned  brown,  and  the  clusters  growing  immediately  from 
it  have  been  harvested,  it  receives  the  name  of  cane  ; 
it  retains  this  name  a  whole  year,  until  the  clusters  have 
been  gathered  from  its  side  branches,  when  it  becomes 
part  of  the  stem. 

During  the  time  the  cane  was  green  it  wTas  called  a  shoot. 

We  distinguish,  therefore,  in  a  grape  vine,  the  following 
three  parts,  viz.  : 

1.  The  shoot,  of  green  color,  grown  in  this  year  from 
the  eye,  bearing  the  grapes  immediately  on  the  peduncle. 
Its  course  of  life  lasts  from  May  until  October,  or  half  a 
year ;  it  was  an  eye  from  October  until  May,  also  half  a 
year. 


THE    GRAPE   VIXE.  21 

2.  The  cane,  of  brown  color,  and  of  smooth  bark,  bear- 
in  or  the  clusters  on  a  side  branch,  the  shoot.  Its  course  of 
life  is  from  October  to  October,  or  a  year. 

3.  The  stem,  of  black  color,  the  bark  separating  from  it, 
bearing:  the  clusters  with  the  shoot  on  the  cane.  Its 
course  of  life  embraces  the  age  of  the  grape  vine,  of  from 
800  to  1000  years. 

The  grape  vine,  therefore,  is  progressing  regularly  ;  the 
shoot  is  chanored  to  a  cane,  and  the  cane  to  a  stem.  The 
stem  enlarges  more  and  more  as  the  canes  of  the  preced- 
ing year  are  added  to  it.  The  necessary  consequence  of 
this  process  is  that  the  stem,  which  does  not  bear  grapes, 
increases  more  and  more  in  extent,  and  that  the  clusters 
cannot  grow  but  on  the  extreme  ends  of  the  stem,  because 
they  are  the  product  of  the  green  shoots  proceeding  from 
the  eye.  It  follows  from  these  facts  that  we  have  to  re- 
sort to  a  method  to  compel  the  vine  to  produce  new  canes 
over  its  whole  extent,  lest  the  greater  part  of  the  available 
space  would  be  occupied  by  the  never-bearing  stem.  This 
method  consists  in  pruning  or  training,  that  is,  an  inten- 
tentional  and  artificial  removal  of  some  parts,  to  compel 
others  near  them  to  push. 

Pruning  the  grape  vine  has,  from  time  immemorial, 
been  considered  necessary  in  its  cultivation,  although  the 
true  connection  between  cause  and  effect  has  not  been  suf- 
ficiently well  understood.  The  vine,  however,  is  capable 
of  so  much  development  that  even  faulty  pruning  always 
accomplishes  a  part  of  its  object.  Before  we  proceed  to 
show  practically  the  true  way  of  pruning,  we  must  study 
the  reasons  which  render  it  efficient. 

THE    REASONS    FOR    PRUNING. 

In  the  course  of  the  year  the  movement  of  the  sap  in 
the  grape  vine  is  subject  to  great  differences.  In  the 
spring,  when  the  temperature  rises,  the  sap  begins  to  rise 


22  Tin;  GRAPE  vine. 

also.  The  eves  swell  and  produce  green  shoots.  If  a 
cane  is  cnt,  drops  of  water  flow  out — it  bleeds.  The 
power  with  winch  the  vine  forces  the  sap  upwards  is  so 
great  that  we  shall  devote  to  it  a  particular  chapter  further 

on.  In  no  plant  is  the  water  flowing  out  so  copious  as 
in  the  vine.  If  we  look  at  a  growing  grape  vine  atten- 
tively, we  observe  that  the  development  of  the  eyes  is 
the  greater  the  nearer  they  are  to  the  top  of  it.  The 
Length  and  size  of  the  shoot  increase  toward  the  top  of 
the  canes,  and  decrease  toward  the  stem.  We  do  not 
know  the  cause  of  the  movement  of  the  sap  ;  we  cannot 
explain  it  as  satisfactorily  as  Ave  can  the  cause  of  the 
movement  of  the  blood  in  the  animals,  in  which  it  originates 
from  the  contraction  of  the  heart. 

We  infer  from  the  fact  that  the  development  of  the 
eyes  increases  toward  the  top,  that  the  cause  of  the  move- 
ment of  the  sap  is  active  over  the  whole  length  of  the 
cane.  This  violent  and  enormous  movement  of  the  sap 
lasts  but  a  short  time,  and  soon  ceases  entirely,  so  that  a 
cane  may  be  cut,  and  not  lose  a  single  drop  of  sap.  If  we 
cut  off  the  uppermost  node  of  a  cane,  the  node  preceding- 
it,  being  now  the  uppermost,  shows  a  powerful  growth  ; 
if  we  cut  off  a  longer  piece  of  cane,  the  most  vigorous 
growth  always  takes  place  at  the  then  uppermost  node. 
From  this  fact  arises  the  possibility  of  inducing  develop- 
ment on  any  place  by  cutting  above  it.  The  pushing  sap, 
not  any  more  required  for  the  nourishment  of  the  portions 
cut  off,  is  compelled  to  contribute  to  the  growth  of  the 
eyes  below  the  cut. 

We  have  seen  in  the  above,  that  if  we  remove  a  green 
shoot,  the  dormant  eye  beside  it  pushes  immediately. 
This  is  a  fact  similar  to  that  explained.  If  we  cut  back 
to  the  stem,  so  that  no  canes  are  left  on  a  part  of  the  stem, 
the  rising  sap  causes  the  stem  to  produce  new  eyes  on  its 
nodes.  As  these  did  not  exist  in  the  spring,  they  are  not 
sufficiently    developed    to    produce    flowers ;     the    eyes, 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  23 

therefore,  pushing  from  the  stem,  are  necessarily  wood  eyes, 
but  they  are  capable  of  producing  fruit  eyes  during  the 
summer.  This  fact  enables  us  to  shorten  the  stem  and  to 
make  it  produce  canes.  We  cut  it  off,  therefore,  in  a  cer- 
tain place,  so  that  nodes  are  left  below  it.  If  the  wood 
eyes  which  are  then  formed,  and  have  pushed,  are  per- 
mitted to  grow  undisturbed,  they  can  bear  fruit  the  next 
year.  The  powerful  development  of  the  stem,  described 
in  the  above,  which  all  canes  a  year  old  have  also,  com- 
pels us  to  keep  the  enlargement  of  the  stem  within  bounds, 
and  to  force,  by  pruning,  the  nodes  below  to  produce 
shoots  and  canes. 

The  natural  development  of  a  cane  which  is  permitted 
to  grow  undisturbed,  and  without  any  check,  has  the  fol- 
lowing result : 

Supposing  we  have  a  cane  of  ten  nodes,  ten  shoots  will 
grow  in  the  spring,  each  of  which  may  bear  three  clusters, 
i.  e.,  thirty  clusters  on  the  whole.  If  all  the  shoots  are 
permitted  to  grow,  each  may  have  produced  in  the  fall  ten 
nodes,  that  is,  a  hundred  nodes  on  the  shoots  which  will 
became  canes  in  the  fall,  and  these  may  bear  in  the  follow- 
ing year  three  hundred  bunches.  In  the  third  year,  the 
hundred  nodes  would  produce  a  thousand  eyes,  and  would 
consequently  bear  three  thousand  bunches.  Nature  has 
circumscribed  such  a  development,  which  is  only  imaginary; 
for  the  root  would  hardly  be  able  to  furnish,  in  the  three 
succeeding  years,  food  for  the  three  hundred,  certainly  not 
for  the  three  thousand  bunches.  It  is  evident,  at  all  events, 
that  a  vine,  not  restrained  in  its  growth,  would  spread  so 
enormously  that  any  given  place  would  become  too  small ; 
the  stem  would,  at  least  every  year,  increase  in  its  height 
as  much  as  one  node  is  distant  from  the  other.  This  is 
plain  from  figure  4,  in  which  only  the  lowest  shoots  on 
each  cane  are  shown.  The  cane,  1,  which  grows  immedi- 
ately from  the  stem,  would,  after  the  lapse  of  a  year,  be- 
come a  part  of  the  stem.     After  two  years  more  the  cane 


24 


THE    GRAPE    VINE. 


2,  after  three  years  the  cane  3,  and  so  on,  so  that  after 
five  years  the  stem  would  reach  to  nine.  It  is  a  most  fa- 
vorable circumstance  that  we  have  chosen  every  year  the 


PLAN    OF   GROWTH. 


lowermost  shoot  to  bear  next  year.  Should  it  be  neces- 
sary to  choose  a  cane  growing  higher  up,  the  stem  "would 
lengthen  in  height  much  more  rapidly.  The  stem  increases 
every  year  one  node  in  height. 

If  we  further  assume  that  there,  where  the  cane,  1,  bears 
fruit  this  year,  is  room  only  for  one  cane,  the  existing 
space  being  occupied  exactly  in  the  same  manner,  we  see 
the  necessity  of  cutting  off,  in  the  fall,  the  cane,  1,  above 
its  lowermost  eye,  that  is,  at  M,  after  it  has  borne  fruit. 
In  the  following  year  the  shoot,  2,  pushes  and  bears  fruit. 
After  the  expiration  of  the  second  year  it  must  be  cut  at 


THE    GEAPE   VINE.  25 

JV.  Now  the  shoot,  3,  pushes,  which  must  be  cut  at  0  after 
the  third  year ;  in  like  manner  the  shoot,  4,  grows  in  the 
fourth  year,  and  must  be  cut  at  JP;  the  shoot,  5,  at  Q,  and 
so  forth. 

This  is  the  foundation  of  the  pruning  of  the  vine,  ac- 
cording to  which  the  stem  increases  one  node  in  each  year, 
and  only  one  cane  is  expected  to  grow  in  the  place  of  an- 
other cane  removed. 

After  a  series  of  years  the  stem  has  necessarily  increased 
in  height,  and  must  be  shortened.  The  method  to  accom- 
plish this  object  will  be  explained  in  that  part  of  the  work 
which  treats  of  pruning  practically  applied. 

THE   PRUNING   OF   THE    GRAPE   VINE. 

The  necessity  of  pruning  has  been  explained  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter.  We  wish  now  to  show  the  practical 
application  of  it  in  a  vine  fully  grown,  and  occupying  the 
whole  space  allotted  to  it.  This  is  the  most  frequent  of 
all  cases,  because  it  takes  only  a  few  years  to  train  a  vine  ; 
it  will  last,  when  properly  managed,  for  centuries.  The 
propagation  and  management  of  young  vines  will  be 
treated  of  in  another  place. 

There  is  a  classical  work  on  the  pruning  of  the  vine  by 
J.  S.  Kecht,  the  seventh  edition  of  which  was  issued  in 
1853.  As  Kecht's  method  is  based  on  the  nature  of  the 
vine  itself,  no  improvement  on  it  has  been  made  in  any  of 
the  more  recent  horticultural  books.  If  we  follow  his  di- 
rections as  laid  down  in  the  book,  we  are  easily  convinced 
of  the  correctness  of  his  teachings,  and  success  is  certain. 
TIijg  experience  of  many  years  has  proved  the  advantages 
derived  from  Kecht's  method. 

In  pruning  a  grape  vine,  we  wish  to  accomplish  two 
object,  viz. : 

1.  To  obtain  for  the  current  year  as  much  fruit  as  pos- 
sible. 

2 


26  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

2.  To  produce  vigorous  canes  for  bearing  the  next  year. 

The  first  pruning  of  the  vine  ought  to  be  done  in  the  fall, 
commencing  in  the  middle  of  November,  after  the  fall  of 
the  leaf;  it  may  be  continued  during  the  winter  when  the 
weather  is  favorable.  The  advantages  of  fall  pruning  are 
very  great.  It  is  easier  to  manage  a  pruned  vine  during 
the  winter  than  an  unpruned  one  ;  no  sap  is  lost  in  the 
next  spring  by  bleeding;  the  pieces  cut  off  can  be  buried 
in  a  compost  heap  and  converted  into  manure. 

The  pruning  of  the  vine  is  modified  by  the  system  of 
training  preferred.  By  this  Ave  understand  the  manner  in 
which  the  vine  is  to  be  extended.  The  vine  is  either 
trained  on  walls,  (trellis,)  or  on  poles,  (common  vineyard 
training,)  or  on  wires,  which  may  be  stretched  high  or  low. 

For  each  of  these  modes  of  training,  the  pruning  is  a 
little  different,  but  not  much,  as  the  principle  remains  the 
same. 

TRAINING   ON   TRELLISES. 

In  order  to  prune  a  grape  vine,  trained  to  a  trellis,  it  is 
necessary  to  loosen  the  vine  by  cutting  the  osiers,  or  other 
material  with  which  it  was  tied,  either  with  a  knife  or  gar- 
den shears.  Then  the  canes  for  bearing  must  be  selected, 
and  also  those  which  are  to  be  spurred  for  the  production 
of  new  canes.  The  strongest  are  chosen  for  bearing ;  they 
must  be  entirely  brown,  having  been  changed  from 
shoots  to  canes  during  the  summer  and  fall  just  passed. 
Their  tops  are  generally  not  ripened,  and  are  consequently 
green.  The  green  part  must  be  entirely  cut  away,  because 
it  would  be  killed  in  the  winter.  The  cane  is  so  much 
shortened  that  it  reaches,  in  the  position  in  which  it  i«  to 
be  tied,  about  one-third  to  the  top  of  the  whole  trellis. 
One-third  must  remain  unoccupied,  because  it  is  required 
for  tying  the  shoot  to  it  that  pushes  from  the  last  eye  of  the 
cane.  If  we  suppose  that  the  trellis  is  from  six  to  seven 
feet  high,  and  that  six  feet  of  its  length  on  each  side  is 


THE    GRAPE   VINE.  27 

to  be  occupied  by  the  vine,  the  canes  in  the  middle  are 
pruned  to  the  length  of  four  feet,  those  on  each  side 
spreading,  in  the  shape  of  a  fan,  to  the  length  of  five  or 
six  feet.  Therefore  from  eight  to  fourteen  buds  will  re- 
main on  each  cane,  promising  an  abundant  crop.  Such 
canes  are  to  be  preferred  as  grow  lowest  on  the  stem.  JVb 
old  wood  ought  to  be  found  beyond  the  middle  of  the 
height  of  the  trellis.  After  the  selection  and  pruning  of 
the  canes,  the  stem,  (that  is,  the  cane  which  bore  fruit  in 
the  preceding  summer  and  fall,)  is  cut  off  immediately 
above  the  place  where  the  new  canes  grow ;  the  canes 
themselves  must  be  cut  off  an  inch  above  the  bud,  as,  if 
cut  close,  this  would  be  apt  to  dry  up. 

It  is  true  that  a  cane  having  from  ten  to  fourteen  buds 
can  bear  from  twenty  to  thirty  clusters ;  yet  it  is  not 
probable  that  it  will  make  strong  shoots.  To  remedy 
this,  some  weaker  canes  are  selected  in  the  mil  for  the 
production  of  bearing  canes,  by  cutting  them  back  to  two 
buds*  each.     A  cane  so  primed  is  called  a  spur. 

This  spur  receives,  when  the  vine  grows,  as  much  sap 
as  a  cane  having  ten  or  twelve  buds ;  but  as  this  sap 
serves  for  the  development  and  pushing  of  only  two  buds, 
the  shoots  proceeding  from  them  are  very  vigorous  and  of 
strong  growth.  Each  of  the  two  shoots  may  bear  from 
four  to  six  clusters,  yet  the  spur  is  not  intended  for  bear- 
ing. If  the  blossoms  on  them  are  removed,  the  cane 
growing  from  the  spur  will  be  so  much  the  stronger. 
Should  both  buds  of  the  spur  be  equally  vigorous  and 
strong,  they  may  be  left ;  but  if  they  are  feeble,  one  is  to 
be  removed,  which  makes  the  remaining  shoot  very  much 
stronger.  The  place  for  the  spurs  ought  to  be  as  low  as 
possible  on  the  stem,  so  that  the  canes  proceeding  from 
them  may  bear  fruit  along  the  whole  height  of  the  trellis. 

Also  wood  buds,  pushing  from  the  old  wood,  may  be 
cut  to  spurs  in  the  fall.  •  TJie  shoots  pushing  from  the 
sp>urs  in  the  following  spring  must  not  be  interfered  with; 


28  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

they  must  be  permitted  to  grow  undisturbed.  Also,  all 
weaker  canes  not  intended  for  bearing,  and  growing  very 
low  on  the  stem,  must  be  cut  back  to  spurs  of  two  buds 
each.  Should  there  be  too  many  shoots  in  the  next 
year  to  serve  as  canes,  some  of  them  are  pinched  in,  and 
may  be  permitted  to  bear  fruit. 

A  little  higher  up  on  the  stem,  some  canes  are  pruned 
to  four  or  five  eyes.  Canes  so  pruned  are  called  long 
spurs.  They  bear  fruit,  but  not  so  much  as  the  canes,  and 
are  therefore  able  to  produce  stronger  canes.  In  this  way 
the  vine  is  compelled  to  produce  strong  bearing  canes  all 
over,  whicii  is  the  condition  of  fruitfulness  every  year.  So 
the  stem  is  also  kept  within  certain  bounds.  If  these  pre- 
cautionary measures  are  neglected,  the  grape  vine  may 
bear  for  one  year  a  large  quantity  of  fruit ;  the  next  year 
there  will  be  many,  but  feeble,  canes,  all  growing  high  up 
on  the  stem.  The  height  of  the  stem  wall  have  considera- 
bly increaed,  and  will  show  no  fruit  below. 

Should  the  trellis  be  much  higher  than  twelve  or  sixteen 
feet,  as  on  walls  of  houses  or  barns,  it  is  imjDossible  to 
reach  this  height  with  a  single  cane.  In  this  case  a  part  of 
the  stem  is  carried  up  to  half  the  height  of  the  trellis,  and 
canes  are  grown  from  it  to  cover  the  upper  part  of  the 
trellis ;  the  lower  part  is  covered  with  canes  proceeding, 
near  the  bottom,  from  side  branches  of  the  stem,  which 
are  then  treated  exactly  as  described  above.  It  is  almost 
impossible  to  keep  vines,  trained  on  such  trellises,  in  order, 
because  it  is  impracticable,  by  means  of  a  ladder,  to  per- 
form the  labor  needed  by  the  vine. 

[It  is  a  much  better  plan  to  plant  more  than  one  vine, 
when,  for  instance,  the  first  is  trained  low,  the  second  high, 
the  third  low  again,  and  so  on  alternately. — Remark  of 
the  Translator.] 

The  pruning  of  a  vine  trained  to  a  post  is  much  simpler. 
The  best  developed  canes  are  pruned  to  eight  or  ten  buds, 
and  also  some  of  the  lower  ones  to  spurs.     The  manner  of 


THE    GRAPE   VINE.  29 

tying  the  canes,  either  more  horizontally,  or  at  certain 
angles  to  the  horizon,  as  well  as  the  length  to  which  they 
are  pruned,  varies  very  much  in  all  regions  where  vines  are 
grown.  None,  of  those  methods  can  be  considered  as  ab- 
solutely the  best ;  for  each  of  them  is  recommended  as  the 
best  in  the  region  where  it  is  practised.  Some  do  not 
wish  to  grow  many  clusters,  in  order  to  obtain  fruit  of  the 
highest  character;  others  prune  their  canes  long,  to  obtain 
a  large  number  of  bunches.  Aside  from  the  different 
opinions  and  views  of  the  people,  the  character  of  the  soil 
exerts  so  powerful  an  influence  that  the  little  changes  de- 
manded by  each  locality  are  gradually  understood  by  those 
inhabitants  of  it  who  cultivate  the  vine.  The  principles 
of  -pruning  are  the  same  for  every  mode  of  training  :  the 
most  beautiful  and  strongest  canes  are  selected  for  bear- 
ing, while  the  weaker  canes  are,  by  short  pruning,  forced 
to  produce  strong  shoots. 

If,  however,  in  consequence  of  an  unfavorable  spring, 
no  blossoms  appear,  or  if  they  have  perished  by  late  frosts, 
rains  and  other  accidents,  the  first  of  the  ends  in  grape 
culture,  namely,  to  grow  clusters  for  the  current,  and  canes 
for  the  following  year,  cannot  be  accomplished,  so  that  the 
second  must  be  kept  in  view  exclusively.  In  this  case  the 
canes  that  had  been  grown  for  fruiting  are  pruned  back 
to  two  eyes,  and  the  shoots  proceeding  from  them  are  per- 
mitted to  grow  undisturbed.  In  like  manner,  all  shoots 
of  .a  cane  without  fruit  may  be  removed,  so  that  only  one 
leaf  near  the  bud  remains.  The  bunches,  as  well  as  the 
shoots  intended  for  canes,  will  in  this  way  be  much  better 
developed.  There  exists  a  mutual  action  and  re-action 
between  the  canes  and  the  leaf,  and  the  root  and  the  stem. 
A  strong  root  is  able  to  produce  many  canes  and  rich  fo- 
liage, which  latter  tends  in  its  turn  to  enlarge  the  stem 
and  the  root.  All  carbonaceous  formations  in  the  vine,  as 
well  as  in  every  other  plant,  are  the  result  of  the  fact  that 
the  leaves,  under  the  influence  of  heat  and  light,  decom- 


30  THE   GEArE    VINE. 

pose  carbonic  acid,  set  oxygen  free,  and  deposit  carbon  in 
connection  with  the  elements  of  the  water  for  the  produc- 
tion of  organic  matter  in  the  vine. 

The  so-called  hydrates  of  carbon  are  grape  sugar,  starch, 
wood  fibre,  and  also  the  other  formations  like  tartaric  acid  ; 
the  green  of  the  leaves,  oil,  and  so  forth,  originate  under 
the  same  conditions. 

If  there  are  many  leaves  on  the  vine,  large  quantities  of 
oxygen  are  given  off  to  the  air,  and  so  corresponding  quan- 
tities of  grape  sugar  and  wood  fibre  are  formed.  Hence  it 
follows  that  the  foliage  must  be  ample  to  develop  many 
bunches,  the  number  of  which  is  different  every  year;  the 
foliage  is  needed  to  nourish  the  fruit,  and  to  render  it 
sweet.  If,  for  the  sake  of  experiment,  all  the  leaves  of  a 
cane  are  removed,  the  berries  and  clusters  growling  on  it 
remain  small,  sour  and  hard,  and  the  wood  does  not  ripen. 
Rich  foliage  tends  to  ripen  the  fruit  as  well  as  the  wood. 

The  growth  of  the  wood  and  of  the  root  depends,  there- 
fore, chiefly  on  the  quantity  of  the  leaves,  especially  when 
the  leaves  have  not  to  furnish  nourishment.  From  this 
circumstance  results  the  practical  rule  not  to  remove  any 
leaves,  if  we  wish  to  make  the  vine  grow  strong.  Al- 
though the  richness  and  sweetness  of  the  fruit  depend  on 
the  foliage,  yet  this  is  also  owing  to  the  extent  and  ac- 
tivity of  the  root.  A  young  vine,  with  a  comparatively 
small  and  weak  root,  can  furnish  sap  for  a  small  number  of 
clusters  only,  even  if  all  the  leaves  remain  on  it.  The 
extent  and  power  of  the  root  increases  every  year,  so  that 
the  vine  will  bear  and  ripen  larger  quantities  of  clusters 
annually.  If  the  proportion  of  the  root,  the  foliage  and 
the  fruit  be  right,  a  large  and  old  vine  will  bear  several 
thousand  of  clusters,  which  will  be  as  mature  and  sweet 
as  twelve  or  twenty  would  be  on  a  small  vine,  the  root  of 
which  is  yet  feeble. 

The  nourishment  is  taken  by  the  root  and  conducted  to 
the  plant.     It  is  elaborated  in  the  leaf,  where  oxygen  is 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  31 

eliminated,  and  where  the  inorganic* carbonic  acid  is  con- 
verted into  an  organic  compound  ;  then  the  nourishment  is 
deposited  and  collected  in  the  berry.  The  true  growth  of 
the  vine  lies,  therefore,  in  the  surface  of  the  leaves  dis- 
played in  the  sunlight,  while  the  clusters  on  a  vine  which 
is  growing  naturally  are  protected  from  the  direct  rays  of 
the  sun. 

It  is  sufficient  when  the  sun  shines  on  the  leaves,  and 
the  clusters  are  growing  in  diffused  light.  This  is  the 
true  and  natural  condition.  It  is  now  not  difficult  to  un- 
derstand how  great  a  mistake  is  made  when  the  leaf,  grow- 
ing near  a  cluster,  is* removed  for  the  purpose  of  admit- 
ting the  rays  of  the  sun  directly  to  the  cluster.  ~No  sugar 
can  be  formed  in  the  berry,  because  no  oxygen  can  be 
eliminated  by  it ;  the  berry  only  collects  the  sugar,  or  it 
prepares  it  from  an  organic  substance  formed  by  the  leaf. 
The  berry  is  apt  to  be  injured  by  the  direct  rays  of  the 
sun  during  the  hot  days  of  summer,  (sunstroke). 

The  development  of  the  vine  may,  therefore,  take  place 
within  limits  that  may  either  be  very  small  or  very  large. 
In  the  steep  vineyards  of  the  Moselle,  where  vegetable 
mould  and  loam  are  wanting,  so  that  frequently  the  neces- 
sary soil  must  be  carried  up  in  baskets  from  the  valley,  a 
vine  cannot  grow  to  a  large  extent. 

The  canes  are  as  thin  as  a  lead  pencil ;  the  stem  is  as 
thick  as  a  finger ;  the  clusters  are  few,  but  excellent,  pro- 
vided there  is  the  right  proportion  between  the  foliage  and 
the  fruit.  The  circumstance  that  the  vines  are  planted 
very  near  each  other,  and  that  the  soil  is  very  shallow, 
prevents  the  extension  of  the  root,  so  that  the  whole  plant 
is  crippled  during  its  term  of  life.  It  cannot,  however, 
be  otherwise  under  the  existing;  circumstances. 

A  vine,  growing  in  rich  garden  soil,  produces  canes 
twenty  feet  long,  studded  with  from  sixty  to  eighty  nodes 
eacn.  A  vine,  four  years  old,  can,  in  such  soil,  bear  four 
hundred  clusters.     In  the  year  1826,  Kecht  counted  on  a 


32  THE   GRAPE    VINE. 

vine  of  the  Frueh-Lcipziger  4,500  clusters  ;  in  other  years, 
generally  from  two  to  three  thousand.  This  was  at  Berlin, 
the  capital  of  Prussia.  The  celebrated  Hampton  Court 
vine,  near  London,  planted  by  Cardinal  Wolsey,  and  still 
growing  in  a  large  glass  house,  bears  every  year  more  than 
a  thousand  excellent  clusters. 

TREATMENT  OF  THE  VINE  IN  THE  SUMMER. 

When  the  vine  is  pruned  before  winter,  it  is  not  tied, 
but  permitted  to  swing  in  the  air,  or  to  lie  on  the  ground. 
It  suffers  less  from  the  cold  by  being  moved  by  the  air, 
than  when  it  is  fixed  to  a  certain  place  where  it  must  lose 
a  great  deal  of  heat  by  radiation.  It  is  a  well  known  fact 
that  solid  bodies  lose,  in  clear  nights,  much  more  than 
aeriform  bodies  ;  consequently  the  vine  will  be  colder  by 
radiation  than  the  surrounding  air.  If  it  moves  freely  in 
the  air,  it  comes  constantly  into  contact  with  new  strata 
of  air  which  are  warmer  than  itself,  and  is,  in  this  way, 
protected  from  being  killed  by  the  frost.  The  vine  suffers 
from  the  frost  wThen  the  thermometer  is  about  at  zero, 
[though  many  American  varieties  can  stand  much  more 
cold. — Translator^  In  Western  Germany,  on  the  Rhine, 
the  Moselle  and  the  Saar,  the  vines  are  left  on  the  ground 
in  winter  •  in  the  east  of  Germany,  they  must  be  covered 
with  soil,  to  protect  them  against  being  killed  by  the  frost. 
Every  one  has,  in  this  respect,  to  do  what  the  climate  of 
the  country  requires. 

During  the  whole  winter,  changes  are  constantly  going 
on  in  the  vine.  Should  it  come  to  a  stand  still,  the  plant 
must  die.  These  changes  take  place  in  accordance  with 
the  warmth  of  the  winter,  so  that  in  mild  winters  the 
eyes  begin  to  swell  in  January  and  February.  That  the 
vine  is  dormant  in  winter,  shows  that  it  belongs  to  the  tem- 
perate zone.  It  is  not  the  cold  which  causes  this  donnftnt 
condition,  but  the  natural  desire  for  rest,  to  prepare  itself 


THE    GKAPE   VINE.  33 

for  new  exertions  in  the  next  year.  In  the  island  of  Ma- 
deira, f.  i.,  the  vine  drops  its  leaves  in  October,  after 
it  has  ripened  its  fruit,  and  remains  dormant  during  the 
winter  months,  the  warmth  of  which  is  equal  to  that  of 
our  summers.  Surrounded  by  evergreen  •  native  plants, 
the  vine  is  there  as  leafless  as  with  us ;  it  remains  in  this 
dormant  condition  for  one  hundred  and  sixty  days,  until  it 
awakens  in  March  to  commence  life  anew. 

As  soon  as  the  heavy  frosts  are  over,  which  is,  with  us, 
(on  the  Rhine)  after  the  middle  of  February,  the  vine 
may  be  tied  to  its  post  or  trellis.  Usually  this  is  done  a 
little  later,  i.  e.,  in  the  course  of  March,  and  in  the  first 
part  of  April.  As  at  the  time  of  tying,  some  little  prun- 
ing will  frequently  take  place,  it  is  advisable  to  commence 
it  as  early  as  possible,  so  that  the  wounds  may  dry  up 
again,  and  may  not  bleed  afterwards.  The  remaining 
canes  are  equally  distributed  all  over  the  trellis,  to  cover 
the  space,  and  are  tied  with  osiers  or  bast  matting.  The 
necessary  manipulations  can  be  easily  learned  from  any 
gardener  or  vineyardist ;  without  this,  they  are  so  obvious 
in  themselves  that  a  trial  will  be  all  that  is  needed  to  un- 
derstand them. 

The  eyes  of  the  vines  commence  pushing  and  are  devel- 
oped into  green  shoots,  on  which,  from  the  middle  of  April 
to  the  middle  of  May,  the  blossoms  ajjpear,  but  only  as 
blossom  buds.  [The  blossom  buds  are  called,  in  German, 
Scheine  or  Geseheine,  for  which  expressions  the  English 
language  has  as  yet  no  corresponding  words. — Translator.'] 
We  know  from  the  process  of  the  development  of  the 
vine,  that  from  each  eye  a  shoot  will  push,  and  that  we 
need  every  year  the  same  number  of  canes.  If  all  the 
shoots  should  be  sivffered  to  grow,  the  vines  would  have  in 
the  next  year  as  many  canes  as  there  were  eyes  in  the  pre- 
ceding year ;  the  vine  would,  in  the  summer,  be  nothing 
but  a  confused  mass  of  wood  and  leaves.  To  prevent  this, 
the  pushing  shoots  are  in  a  certain  manner  either  rubbed 
2* 


34  THE    GRAPE    VIXE 

off  or  pinched.  In  these  operations  two  objects  are  kept 
in  view,  viz. :  to  obtain  the  best  possible  fruit,  and  to  de- 
velop only  as  many  canes  as  are  actually  on  the  vine.  The 
honor  of  the  discovery  of  the  method  to  accomplish  this  is 
also  due  to  Keeht ;  in  it,  his  teachings  have  reached  their 
culminating  point.  According  to  the  opinion  of  all  those 
who  understand  viticulture,  nothing  that  is  either  better, 
or  even  as  good,  has  been  brought  to  light ;  the  method  is 
so  simple,  and  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  nature,  that 
we  may  consider  it,  without  hesitation,  perfect. 

We  do  not  wish  to  grow  more  canes  than  the  vine  is 
bearing.  It  follows  that  only  one  eye  on  each  cane  must 
be  used  for  a  new  one.  The  eye  to  be  used  for  a  cane 
must  be  necessarily  the  lowermost.  The  sap  has  a  strong 
upward  tendency,  and  causes  the  uppermost  canes  to  grow 
strongest ;  the  growth  of  the  shoots  proceeding  from  the 
higher  part  of  the  cane  must,  therefore,  be  restrained.  On 
them  the  clusters,  in  which  the  object  of  growing  the 
vine  centers,  are  produced.  The  restriction  of  the  upper 
shoots  must  be  so  managed  as  to  conduce  to  the  best 
growth  of  the  clusters.  The  two  following  rules  unite 
everything  that  is  needed  : 

1.  The  lowermost  eye  on  each  cane  must  be  suffered  to 
grow  at  will  without  being  checked  or  interfered  icith. 

2.  The  tops  of  the  shoots,  pushing  from  all  other  eyes, 
are  pinched  two  leaves  above  the  uppermost  bunch,  not 
counting  the  leaf  near  the  bunch. 

These  golden  rules  contain  a  wisdom  which  cannot  be 
valued  too  highly.  The  shoot,  being  pinched,  cannot  con- 
tinue growing  ;  consequently  there  will  be  an  abundance 
of  sap  for  the  nourishment  of  the  clusters.  The  two 
leaves  are  needed,  and  sufficient  to  make  the  grapes  sweet. 
As  the  upper  eyes  of  the  shoot  cannot  push,  the  eye  of 
the  lowermost  node  grows  the  more  vigorously,  and  makes 
a  strong  cane  for  the  next  year.  The  spurs,  may  they  be 
short  or  long,  are  likewise  intended  for  strong  canes,  hence 


THE    GRAPE   VINE.  35 

it  follows  that  one  shoot,  if  possible  the  lowermost  on 
each  cane,  must  not  be  pinched,  but  must  grow  undis- 
turbed to  the  end  of  the  year,  when  it  is  to  be  pruned  as 
a  cane. 

The  first  pinching  of  the  vine  may  be  performed  before 
it  blossoms,  as  soon  as  the  buds  are  distinctly  visible. 
The  earlier  the  vine  is  pinched,  the  less  nourishing  sub- 
stance it  loses. 

However  easy  the  above  rules  appear  to  be,  yet  their 
practical  application  is  not  quite  so  easy.  There  are  one 
or  two  eyes  in  the  axil  of  the  foot  stalk  on  the  green 
shoot ;  those  eyes  ichich  are  green  and  soft,  ought  also  to 
be  removed.  This  can  easily  be  accomplished  with  the 
nail  of  a  finger  or  the  thumb  ;  for  they  push,  if  not  re- 
moved, and  absorb  a  part  of  the  sap,  destined  to  nourish 
the  bunch,  and  lessen  the  vigor  of  the  lowermost  eye  of 
the  cane  which  is  intended  for  a  cane  the  next  year.  It  is 
therefore  advisable  to  perform  these  two  operations  simul- 
taneously ;  after  the  top  of  the  shoot  has  been  pinched 
two  leaves  above  the  uppermost  bunch,  all  eyes  in  the 
sinuses  of  the  foot  stalks  of  the  leaves  must  be  destroyed ; 
only  the  lowermost  shoot  must  be  left  to  grow  at  will. 
Pinching,  during  the  time  of  blossoming,  is  not  to  be  re- 
commended, because  the  blossoms  are  easily  injured. 

There  exists  no  other  reason  for  it,  although  some  think 
it  is  indispensable  not  to  do  anything  to  the  vine  during 
the  time  of  blossoming,  as  though  during  that  time  it  were 
more  sensitive  to  bear  external  influences  than  at  any 
other.  I  have  also,  during  blossoming  time,  carefully 
pinched  shoots,  and  have  never  found  any  difference  from 
what  it  would  have  been,  or  was,  when  it  was  performed 
before  or  after  that  time. 

After  blossoming,  the  vine  grows  more  vigorously.  The 
eyes,  remaining  on  the  shoots,  push  and  form  little  shoots, 
which  are  called  laterals. 

In  the  axil  of  the  leaf  stalk  there  are  always  at  least 


36  THE   GKAPE    VINE. 

two  eyes,  of  which  alternately  the  left,  the  next  time  the 
right  eye  pushes  and  Conns  a  lateral.  If  the  laterals  that 
have  been  produced  are  removed,  the  other  eye  soon  com- 
mences pushing  ;  if  the  lateral  of  the  second  eye  is  rubbed 
off,  a  third  dormant  eye  is  formed,  etc.  This  shows  that 
the  laterals  perform  an  important  service  in  regard  to  the 
dormant  eyes.  As  long  as  the  lateral  is  growing,  the 
eye  at  the  base  of  it  remains  dormant ;  if  it  is  removed,  it 
receives  an  abundance  of  sap  and  pushes.  This  is  the 
reason  why  no  laterals  on  the  shoot  intended  for  a  cane, 
that  is,  on  the  lowermost  shoot,  should  be  rubbed  off. 

Although  soon  after  the  removal  of  the  shoot  a  new  eye 
is  formed,  yet  this  takes  place  later  and  later,  and  the  eye 
does  not  last  so  long  as  that  which  has  pushed  in  the 
spring,  and,  therefore,  in  the  course  of  the  summer,  is  not 
fully  developed  for  producing  a  blossom.  It  is  one  of  the 
commonest  mistakes  made  by  vintners  to  remove  these 
laterals  without  any  discrimination,  because  they  consider 
them  to  be  robbers  of  strength.  The  laterals  of  the  shoot 
to  be  preserved  for  a  cane  are  destined  to  receive  the  sap 
and  -p reserve  the  eye,  growing  at  its  base  in  its  dormant 
state. 

The  laterals  continue  pushing  from  the  canes  during  the 
whole  summer  ;  it  is,  therefore,  necessary  to  have  a  certain 
and  infallible  criterion,  in  going  over  a  vine,  to  know 
which  laterals  must  be  removed,  and  which  must  remain. 
This  is  contained  in  the  following  rule : 

3.  It  is  useful  to  remove  the  laterals  of  the  shoots  that 
have  been  pinched ;  they  must  remain  on  the  shoot  not 
jnnched,  i.  e.,  on  the  lowermost. 

The  remaining  leaves  of  a  vine,  regularly  pinched,  grow 
large  and  very  solid  in  a  short  time,  and  the  lowest  shoots 
not  pinched  grow  with  great  vigor.  The  pinched  shoots 
soon  attain  the  size,  beyond  which  they  camlot  increase  in 
length,  as  they  cannot  growT  at  the  top,  and  the  laterals  are 
removed  as  soon  as  they  appear.     The  shoots,  on  the  con- 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  o7 

trary,  not  pinched  or  interfered  with,  because  intended  for 
bearing  the  nest  spring,  grow  in  the  course  of  the  sum- 
mer from  eight  to  ten,  and  sometimes  even  twenty  feet 
long.  This  does  not  create  any  difficulty  when  the  vines 
are  grown  on  trellises,  because  there  is  room  enough  to 
arrange  and  tie  them.  If  the  strips  of  the  trellis  are  in  a 
vertical  position,  projecting  above,  those  shoots  are  carried 
behind  them,  wThere  they  are  permitted  to  grow.  If  the 
trellises  are  made  of  horizontal  wires,  the  shoots  in  ques- 
tion are  tied  to  the  uppermost,  on  which  they  are  suffered 
to  grow- in  a  horizontal  position.  In  vineyards  where 
posts  are  used,  the  shoots  are  tied  to  them  as  far  as  their 
length  goes ;  the  upper  ends  of  the  shoots  swing  either  in 
the  air  or  they  are  tied  to  the  post  of  the  next  vine.  I 
anticipate  that  I  shall  get  in  conflict  with  many  practical 
vignerons  who  are  in  the  habit  of  cutting  off  the  shoots 
in  August  as  far  as  they  think  proper,  to  re-establish  order 
and  to  obviate  and  further  confusion.  This  practice,  how- 
ever, is  altogether  erroneous,  because,  after  the  shoots  in- 
tended for  canes  have  been  shortened,  the  dormant  eyes 
commence  pushing  ;  so  a  part  of  the  eyes  destined  to  bear 
the  next  year  is  lost,  and  the  crop  is  lessened.  Those  la- 
terals, although  developed  so  late,  grow  so  large  that  they 
must  be  pinched  again.  A  shoot  not  pinched  is  some- 
times difficult  to  manage  on  account  of  its  length,  but 
those  pinched,  much  more  so,  on  account  of  the  number  of 
their  laterals.  If  the  principle  is  correct  that  the  shoots 
intended  for  canes  must  not  be  injured,  it  is  necessary  to 
provide  means  for  their  support.  A  vine  may  be  grown 
as  large  or  as  small  as  it  is  convenient  /  yet  the  length 
of  the  shoots  destined  to  bear  next  year  cannot  be  arbi- 
trarily reduced  to  a  certain  measure. 

Even  in  the  smallest  vine  they  will  be  from  six  to  eigh- 
teen feet  long,  and  they  must,  at  all  events,  be  provided  for 
without  shortening  them.  When  I  was  riding,  in  the  fall 
of  1862,  through  the  Rheingau,   I   saw   the  vines  kept 


38  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

neatly  about  four  feet  high;  the  shoots,  however,  which 
were  to  hear  next  year,  had  produced  mairy  laterals.  The 
yellowish-green  color  of  the  young  shoots  shows  this;  they 
have  not  been  long  enough  exposed  to  the  light  to  be  as 
green  as  older  leaves.  These  young  laterals  are  especially 
liable  to  be  attacked  by  the  grape  disease.  In  the  second 
part  of  the  summer,  no  such  yellowish-green  shoots  must 
be  found  on  the  vine.  It  is  true  that  they  continue  push- 
ing from  the  pinched  shoots,  but  they  must  be  rubbed  oft* 
as  soon  tis  they  appear ;  they  do  not  push  from  the  shoots 
intended  for  bearing  next  year,  if  the  error  of  shortening 
them  is  avoided.  Where,  in  the  second  part  of  the  summer, 
yellowish-green  shoots  appear  on  a  vine,  regularly  pinched, 
then  they  may  be  removed  unhesitatingly.  The  confusion 
of  a  vine,  treated  in  the  right  manner,  will  never  be  so  great 
as  many  believe  ;  for  the  bearing  canes  are  pinched  and  re- 
main small,  and  there  are  but  a  few  long  shoots  destined 
for  bearing  the  next  year ;  their  number  is  not  much 
greater  than  that  of  the  canes  which  bear  fruit.  It  is 
judicious  to  grow  a  few  more  shoots  than  are  to  be 
retained  for  canes  ;  this  has  the  advantage  that  the  best 
may  be  selected  in  the  fall,  and  that  those  that  are  weaker 
may  be  removed  by  pruning,  in  order  to  restore  the  proper 
number.  The  shade  from  these  long  shoots  is  of  no  ac- 
count, because  the  rays  of  the  sun,  falling  upon  the  leaves 
of  the  long  shoot,  have  the  same  effect  as  if  they  had 
struck  the  vine  itself.  It  is  necessary  that  the  long  shoot 
should  vegetate  and  develop  in  the  light  of  the  sun,  so 
that  the  cane  itself,  of  course,  must  produce  shade.  If  a 
part  of  a  vine  is  in  the  shade  from  a  shoot  growing  on  a 
vine  before  it,  the  shoots  of  that  vine  are  exposed  to  the 
full  rays  of  the  sun,  and  it  receives  from  above  the  light  in- 
tercepted from  below  by  the  vine  before  it.  In  planting 
grape  vines  on  a  plain,  or  on  a  gentle  declivity,  shade  can- 
not be  avoided ;  if  one  part  of  a  vine  is  entitled  to  the  sun, 
the  other  must  be  contented  to  be,  for  a  certain  time,  in 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  39 

the  shade.  Moreover,  only  the  leaf  of  the  vine  ought  to 
be  exposed  to  the  full  light  of  the  sun,  while  the  cluster 
is  to  develop  and  to  ripen  in  the  diffused  light  of  day. 

GRAPE   VINE   PLANTATIONS. 

There  is  hardly  any  other  plant  so  well  adapted  to  varia- 
tion of  management  as  the  grape  vine.  It  is  not  our 
purpose  to  give  here  detailed  directions  concerning  the  ar- 
rangements of  plantations,  but  only  hints  which  may 
be  useful,  where  a  skillful  gardener  can  be  consulted. 
There  exists  no  system  of  cultivating  the  vine  which  could 
be  called  absolutely  the  best  for  all  regions ;  the  climate, 
as  well  as  the  nature  of  the  variety  of  the  vine,  requires 
particular  attention. 

All  methods  are  successful  to  a  certain  degree,  and  there 
is  none  not  considered  the  best  by  some.  So  much  is  true — 
that,  of  all  plants,  the  vine  gives  the  most  ample  reward 
for  the  care  bestowed  upon  it,  and  that  many  a  vacant 
spot  of  a  garden  may  be  used  for  planting  a  choice  variety, 
so  that  it  may  be  turned  to  account. 

VINES  TRAINED  ALONG  THE  GARDEN  WALK. 

By  this,  low,  horizontal  branches  of  grape  vines  are 
meant,  growing  at  considerable  distances  from  each  other, 
the  canes  and  foliage  of  which  do  not  occupy  any  useful 
space.  They  are  trained  above  edgings  of  box  and 
strawberries  without  interfering  with  their  growth.  For 
this  arrangement,  such  walks  in  the  garden  are  selected  as 
are  parallel  to  the  longest  extent  of  it.  The  whole  length 
is  divided  into  equal  parts  of  five  or  six  feet  each,  and 
those  places  are  marked  by  small  sticks.  Supposing  the 
distance  of  six  feet  is  preferred,  a  hole  is  dug  at  the  first 
stick,  or  six  feet  from  the  end,  then  at  the  third,  fifth, 
seventh,  etc.,  skipping  the  equal  numbers'  two,  four,  six, 
etc.     If  each  vine  sends  out  on  the  two  opposite  sides  a 


40  THE    GRAPE   VINE. 

cane  of  six  feet  each,  the  whole  length  will  be  covered  by 
the  vine,  and,  therefore,  the  two  last  vines  are  planted  six 
feet  from  the  end  or  beginning.  A  vine  is  now  planted, 
either  a  cutting  or  a  root,  in  each  hole,  in  a  straight  line 
along  the  margin  of  the  walk ;  the  roots  must  be  so  ar- 
ranged and  so  disposed,  that  they  must  grow  into  the  beds 
where  they  find  better  soil  and  can  be  manured.  They 
are  protected  by  sticks  against  injury  from  footsteps,  and 
are  watered  during  the  summer,  if  necessary.  In  the  fall, 
each  young  vine  is  cut  down  to  two  eyes,  from  which 
two  shoots  are  suffered  to  grow  the  next  year.  As  they 
do  not  bear,  they  may  be  laid  on  the  ground  behind  the 
edgings.  In  the  third  year,  a  strong  iron  wire,  at  least 
one-twelfth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  is  stretched  between 
the  first  and  the  last  post ;  the  wire  is  supported  by  a  thin 
post  near  each  vine.  The  wire  ought  to  be  stretched  at 
the  height  of  eighteen  or  twenty  inches  above  the  ground. 
In  this  way,  the  bed  remains  open  to  the  view,  and  the  edg- 
ing plants,  growing  under  the  canes,  are  not  injured,  as  they 
receive  sufficient  light.  The  two  posts  at  the  extreme  ends 
ought  to  be  made  of  oak  wood  three  inches  square ;  their 
ends  ought  to  be  also  square,  not  round.  If  they  are  three 
and  a  half  feet  long,  each  two  feet  will  be  in,  and  a  foot  and 
a  half  above  the  ground.  They  are  strong  enough  to  bear 
the  stress  of  the  wire.  Near  the  upper  end  each  of  the 
two  posts  receives  towards  the  middle  a  strong  iron  hook, 
with  a  screw  cut  at  its  end  ;  it  is  screwed  into  the  post,  so 
that  the  opening  of  the  hook  is  on  the  upper  side.  A  hole 
of  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  diameter  is  bored  through  the 
other  post,  through  which  a  strong  piece  of  iron  wire  is 
put,  being  bent  in  the  form  of  a  hook  on  the  inside,  and 
having  a  screw  witli  a  four-cornered  nut  on  the  outside. 
The  small  posts,  set  to  each  vine  along  the  whole  side  of 
the  walk,  are  also  of  oak,  and  if  they  are  a  foot  and  a  half 
deep  in  the  soil,  they  will  have  strength  enough.  In  order 
to  stretch  the  wire,  an  eye  is  made  on  one  of  its  ends, 


THE   GRAPE   VINE.  41 

through  which  the  hook  passes ;  it  is  then  hooked  into  the 
wire  of  the  second  end  post,  which  terminates  in  a  screw, 
so  that  it  touches  the  tops  of  the  intermediate  small  posts. 
Then  it  is  stretched  by  means  of  the  screw  and  nut  as 
much  as  possible.  The  wire  is  kept  in  position  on  the  tops 
of  the  intermediate  posts  by  small  staples  or  rings  with 
wood  screws.  If  the  stress  or  the  heat  lengthens  the  wire, 
it  is  stretched  again  by  turning  the  nut  of  the  screw. 
Even  without  such  an  apparatus,  the  wire  may  be  stretched 
by  wooden  wedges  and  stones  driven  into  the  soil  by  the 
posts,  in  order  to  straighten  them.  As  the  wire  is  short- 
ened by  the  cold  of  the  winter,  it  is  advisable  to  loosen  it 
a  little,  and  to  stretch  it  again  when  the  vines  are  tied  up 
in  the  next  spring. 

Others  recommend  to  use  strips  of  wood  instead  of 
wire ;  they  must  be  nailed  on  the  tops  of  the  posts.  Strips 
are  less  durable  and  more  expensive  than  wires ;  for  the 
place  where  they  are  nailed  is  apt  to  rot,  owing  to  the 
oxide  of  iron  produced  by  the  rusting  nail ;  and  if  the 
strip  breaks  there,  and  is  an  inch  too  short,  it  must  be  re- 
placed by  a  new  one.  Wires  have  little  body,  and  the 
tying  to  a  wire  is  easier  than  to  a  thick,  clumsy  strip. 
The  durability  of  the  wires  is  increased  by  giving  them  a 
coat  of  oil  paint.  The  color  is  given  by  mixing  it  with 
pure  red  lead.  This  color  shows  the  place  of  the  wire,  and 
prevents  occasional  visitors  from  injuring  themselves  in 
stepping  over  a  place  not  yet  filled  with  canes  of  the  vine. 
The  canes,  growing  in  the  second  year,  are  tied  in  the 
third,  right  and  left  to  the  wire,  and  are  suffered  to  bear. 
It  is  necessary  to  pinch  and  remove  shoots,  if  this  method 
of  training  is  adopted.  One  of  the  lowest  shoots  on  each 
side  must  not  be  pinched  or  interfered  with,  as  it  is  to  be 
used  as  a  cane  forbearing  the  next  year ;  all  other  bearing 
shoots,  when  pinched  just  beyond  the  second  leaf  above 
the  last  cluster,  cannot  grow  longer.     The  shoots  for  canes 


42  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

are  tied  to  the  same  wire,  but  below  it,  which  compels 
them  to  lengthen  in  a  straight  line. 

The  canes  which  have  borne  fruit  are  cut  off  in  the  next 
autumn  ;  the  new  canes  are  pruned  to  twelve  or  fourteen 
buds,  and  also  some  spurs  are  provided  for,  so  that  it  is 
possible,  after  the  lapse  of  some  years,  to  shorten  the  stem 
and  to  go  back  again,  nearer  to  the  first  starting  point. 
It  is  very  easy  always  to  have  two  strong  canes  covering, 
with  the  exception  of  the  extremities,  the  intervals  of 
twelve  feet  of  the  wire,  except  at  the  end.  That  space  is 
needed  for  tying  the  shoots  of  the  uppermost  buds.  If  a 
post,  seven  feet  high,  is  set  to  each  vine,  twro  additional 
fruiting  canes,  as  wrell  as  the  shoots  for  canes,  may  be  tied 
to  it ;  so  the  crop  may  be  very  much  increased. 

On  such  a  cordon,  eight  hundred  feet  long,  I  have  grown, 
in  the  fourth  year  after  planting,  so  many  bunches,  that  I 
made  from  them  one-half  awme  (30  gallons)  of  excellent, 
red  wine,  without  using  a  single  square  foot  of  the  surface 
of  the  garden  for  it. 

Only  here  and  there  some  plants  of  the  box,  wdrich 
formed  the  edging,  were  taken  out  to  make  room  for  the 
vines.  The  rays  of  the  sun,  intercepted  by  the  vines, 
would  have  fallen  during  one-half  of  the  day  upon  the 
w^alks,  during  the  other  upon  the  box  and  other  worthless 
plants,  which  attained,  however,  their  perfect  develop- 
ment.    The  variety  was  of  the  early  Burgundy  variety. 

TRELLISES    ON   WALLS. 

A  wall,  exposed  to  the  sun  during  one-half  of  the  day, 
towards  the  east,  south  or  west,  or  intermediate  between 
them,  may  be  used  for  a  trellis.  A  southern  or  south- 
westerly is  the  best ;  early  ripening  sorts  succeed  also  when 
exposed  to  the  east  or  west,  provided  the  climate  is  not 
unfavorable. 

The  walls  for  trellises  are  generally,  whitewashed,  be- 
cause it  is  cheapest.     Yet  it  is  better  to  add  something  to 


NHE    GRAPE   VINE.  43 

it  that  makes  the  wash  darker,  to  absorb  more  heat.  For 
this  purpose,  any  brown  coloring  matter,  mixed  with  white- 
wash, will  answer  to  make  a  dark-colored  wall.  Without 
the  mixture  of  whitewash,  the  pulverized  coloring  matter 
is  washed  off  by  the  rain  from  the  walls.  Umber  and 
lampblack  may  be  nsed,  yet  Manganese  is  much  to  be 
preferred. 

A  wall,  covered  with  blue  slate,  absorbs  the  greatest 
amount  of  heat ;  the  cheapest  kind  of  slate  or  refuse  of 
slate  answers  a  very  good  purpose.  Blue  slate,  exposed 
to  the  full  sun,  is  heated  to  fifty  to  fifty-five  degrees 
Reaum.  (to  145  or  156°  Fahr.)  The  wall,  not  shaded  by 
the  foliage,  is  heated  by  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  imparts 
warmth  to  the  currents  of  rising  air,  which  give  off  their 
warmth  to  the  vine. 

A  great  amount  of  heat  is  accumulated  in  the  wall  from 
the  sun,  the  effect  of  which  is  felt  even  at  night.  In  pass- 
ing by  a  wall,  shone  upon  by  the  sun  during  the  day,  af- 
ter sunset  the  undulations  of  the  warmth  are  distinctly 
felt  in  the  face.  This  advantage  of  being  heated  for  a 
longer  time  can  be  green  to  the  vines  by  painting  the  wall 
dark.  Wire  trellises  are  now  preferred  to  wooden  ones, 
not  only  on  account  of  their  durability,  but  also  on  ac- 
count of  their  greater  cheapness.  They  can,  besides,  be 
erected  and  arranged  in  a  very  short  time.  The  wire 
must  be  at  least  one-twelfth  of  an  inch  thick,  and  annealed, 
so  that  it  may  be  bent  without  breaking.  It  is  best  to 
stretch  the  wire  in  a  horizontal  direction.  In  this  case, 
there  are  not  many  places  where  the  vine  is  to  be  tied,  nor 
can  a  vine  which  has  been  tied,  slide  down.  A  trellis  five 
or  six  feet  high  requires  but  three  or  four  wires,  the  lowest, 
a  foot  from  the  ground,  the  others,  in  distances  of  sixteen 
inches  from  each  other.  Strong  pieces  of  iron  are  fast- 
ened to  the  extreme  ends  of  the  wall,  in  order  to  stretch 
the  wire ;  every  twelve  feet,  the  wire  must  be  passed 
through  a  thinner  piece  of  iron,  in  order  to  keep  it  in 


44  THE    GRAPE   VIXE. 

place.  It  is  necessary  to  mark  first  the  places  at  the  ex- 
treme ends  with  a  cross,  the  middle  of  which,  where  the 
two  lines  intercept  each  other,  indicates  the  place  where 
the  iron  has  %to  be  fixed.  As  such  a  trellis  lasts  a  long 
time,  it  is  advisable  to  measure  the  distance  with  a  rule, 
carefully.  After  the  strong  pieces  of  iron  at  the  two  ends 
of  the  wall  have  been  fastened,  the  whole  length  is  divid- 
ed into  equal  parts  of  ten  or  twelve  feet  each,  and  there  a 
perpendicular  line  is  made  with  a  piece  of  charcoal  or.  a 
carpenter's  lead  pencil.  Then  a  piece  of  cord  or  twine  is 
stretched  between  the  two  strong  irons,  which  crosses  the 
black  lines  at  right  angles ;  the  places  where  the  cord 
crosses  the  black  lines  are  to  be  marked  red.  Here  the 
thinner  irons  are  fastened,  which  are  to  serve  to  keep  the 
wire  in  place.  To  drive  a  pointed  iron  in  mortar  or  brick 
walls  is  easy  enough,  but  stone  Avails  cause  a  great  deal 
more  trouble.  Frequently  it  is  necessary  to  try  to  the 
right  and  left,  till  a  place  is  found  where  two  stones  are 
put  together;  for  it  is  impossible  to  penetrate  into  the 
stones  themselves.  In  order  not  to  spoil  many  points,  of 
the  pieces  of  soft  iron,  a  four-cornered  punch  of  steel, 
which  has  been  tempered  blue,  and  has  a  handle,  is  used. 
Should  the  hole  become  too  large  by  this  operation,  a  piece 
of  pine  wood  is  driven  into  it  with  a  hammer,  and  then 
the  iron  is  driven  into  the  pine  wood.  It  is  left  to  the 
judgment  of  the  person  who  makes  the  trellis,  whether  he 
will  make  use  of  an  apparatus  to  stretch  the  wires  by 
means  of  screws  and  nuts.  The  wires  receive  a  coat  of  red 
paint ;  they  last,  so  painted,  much  longer,  and  are  always 
visible. 

A  wire  trellis  well  arranged  and  firm  will  likely  last 
longer  than  the  life  of  him  who  has  made  it. 

FREE    TRELLISES. 

It  is  much  more  profitable  and  advantageous  to  erect 
grape  trellises  on  gentle  declivities  than  to  plant  single 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  45 

vines.  The  number  of  posts  required  is  mucli  less,  and 
the  greater  extent  of  the  root  in  vines  growing  strong 
will  involve  less  expense,  and  give  a  greater  produce. 
A  vine  trained  on  a  trellis  ten  or  twelve  feet  wide,  and 
four  or  four  and  a  half  feet  high,  bears  as  many  clusters 
as  eight  or  ten  vineyard  vines  trained  to  posts.  Also  the 
labor  of  pruning,  tying  and  manuring  is  much  simpler  and 
easier  than  in  a  larger  number  of  single  vines. 

As  regards  the  direction  of  the  trellises,  practical  men 
differ.  Kecht  advises  the  direction  from  north  to  south, 
that  is,  parallel  to  the  meridian.  This  arrangement  has 
the  disadvantage  that  in  the  hottest  part  of  the  day,  the 
sun  shines  into  the  spaces  between  the  rows,  heating  the 
ground,  while  the  rows  are  in  their  own  shade.  It  is,  how- 
ever, much  more  important  that  the  vine  should  be 
warmed  than  the  ground.  I  have,  therefore,  chosen  just 
the  opposite  direction,  that  is,  from  east  to  west,  in  a  plan- 
tation of  vines.  As  the  line  of  the  rows  is  a  little  inclined 
towards  the  meridian,  it  so  happens  that  the  sun  at  one 
o'clock,  p.  ra.,  shines  vertically  upon  the  rows.  Conse- 
quently my  plantation  enjoys  the  sun  in  the  following 
manner :  Before  seven  o'clock,  a.  m.,  the  sun  shines  on 
the  back  part  of  the  trellises ;  at  seven  o'clock  it  shines 
between  the  rows  from  east ;  from  seven  o'clock,  a.  m., 
till  seven  o'clock,  p.  m.,  the  front  part  of  the  trellis  enjoys 
the  sunshine;  at  seven  o'clock,  p.  m.,  the  rays  of  the  sun 
strike  the  spaces  between  the  rows,  and  after  seven  o'clock 
the  back  part  of  the  trellises  again. 

In  the  hottest  part  of  the  day,  from  ten  o'clock,  a.  m., 
till  three  o'clock,  p.  m.,  the  sun  is  almost  vertical  above 
the  rows,  and  they  are  then  in  the  condition  of  trellises 
made  on  walls  with  a  southern  exposure,  which  exposure 
has  always  been  preferred  to  all  others.  In  the  hottest 
part  of  the  day,  the  ground  is  shaded  so  that  it  does  not 
dry  so  rapidly.  My  aim  was  to  intercept  all  the  rays  of 
the  sun,  that  would  fall  upon  that  piece  of  ground,  by  the 


4:6  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

plant  itself,  as  this  would  insure  the  best  success.  It  is 
true  that  I  have  no  experience  yet,  but  the  arrange- 
ment was  planned  with  so  much  care,  that  I  am  confident 
of  a  favorable  result.  A  little  deviation  from  this  direc- 
tion may  be  desirable  if  the  natural  condition  of  the  situa- 
tion of  the  ground  is  different.  Should  it  be  so  situated 
as  to  receive  the  shadow  from  a  near  mountain  in  the  af- 
ternoon, it  will  be  advantageous  to  turn  the  whole  ar- 
rangement a  little  eastward,  and  plant  the  rows  so  that 
the  sun  shines  into  them  in  the  morning  and  in  the  even- 
ing at  five  o'clock ;  it  will  then,  at  eleven  a.  m.,  be  verti- 
cally above  them. 

If  the  ground  lies  open  in  all  directions,  it  is  better  to 
deviate  a  little  towards  the  west,  because  the  afternoon  is 
always  hotter  than  the  forenoon.  If  the  shadow  of  a 
mountain  falls  from  the  east  upon  the  plantation,  it  may  be 
so  arranged  that  it  has  the  sun  vertical  at  two  o'clock,  p. 
m.,  but  always  so  that  the  sun  does  not  shine  into  the 
spaces  between  the  rows  during  the  hottest  time  of  the 
day. 

If  the  direction  is  ascertained,  the  east  and  west  sides 
of  the  ground  are  to  be  divided  into  equal  parts,  each  four 
feet  wide ;  this  is  the  distance  of  the  trellises  from  each 
other.  Then  the  north  and  south  sides  of  the  piece  must 
be  divided  into  parts  of  ten  feet  each. 

Each  vine  is  to  cover  five  feet  of  trellis  on  each  side, 
consequently  ten  feet  in  the  whole.  No  vines  must,  there- 
fore, be  planted  at  the  east  and  west  terminus  of  the  rows, 
but  five  feet  from  it.  The  last  post,  however,  is  to  be 
planted  at  the  terminus  itself.  Now  the  holes  are  dug  in 
the  places  indicated,  and  the  plants  or  cuttings  are  so 
placed  that  they  are  in  straight  lines  ;  this  may  easily  be 
accomplished  by  another  person  sighting  at  the  last  hole, 
marked  by  some  prominent  object,  along  a  straight  pole, 
placed  horizontally.  In  the  first  year,  the  green  shoots  may 
lie  and  grow  on  the  ground  ;  in  the  second,  they  may  be  tied 


THE    GRAPE   VINE.  47 

to  sticks,  and  the  spaces  between  the  rows  may  be  used 
for  cultivating  vegetables.     In  the  third  year,  the  trellis   ( 
must  be  erected.     For  this  purpose  strong  posts,  three 
inches  square,  the  points  of  which  are  four  cornered,  are 
driven  into  the  ground  at  the  east  and  west  side  of  the 
rows ;  if  they  are  two  and  a  half  feet  in  the  ground,  and 
five  feet  above  it,  they  are  long  enough.     Between  them, 
thinner  posts  two  inches   square,  but  equally  high  as  the 
larger  ones,  are  driven  into  the  ground  near  every  vine, 
i.  e.,  in  distances  of  ten  feet  from  each  other  to  support 
the  wires  ;  the  two  last  rows  east  and  west  may,  of  course, 
be  skipped.     Instead  of  oaken  posts,  which  are  expensive, 
round,  pine  saplings  may  be  used,  but  they  must  be  im- 
pregnated with  sulphate  of  copper.     This  can  be  done  by 
dissolving  ten  or  twelve  pounds  of  sulphate  of  copper  in 
an  old  hogshead,  by  pouring  hot  water  on  it,  stirring  it 
frequently.     Ten  or  twelve  posts  are  put  in  it,  and  remain 
five    or    six    days,    when   they   are    to   be    replaced    by 
others,  while  the  first  set  is  dried.     So  much  water  is  to 
be  added  that  the  hogshead  with  the  posts  in  it  is  full. 
As  long  as  sulphate  of  copper  remains  undissolved  at  the 
bottom,  the  absorbed  or  evaporated  water  must  be  re- 
plenished.    Of  all  the  materials  used   for   impregnating 
wood  to  make  it  durable,  (kyanizing,)  sulphate  of  copper 
is  one  of  the  cheapest  and  most  effective. 

To  give  a  good  coat  of  coal  tar  to  the  part  impregnated, 
after  the  posts  are  dry,  will  protect  them  still  more  effec- 
tually. 

To  stretch  the  wire,  strong  conical  pieces  of  iron  may 
be  used,  similar  to  those  used  for  stretching  piano  strings. 
They  must  be  made  to  fit  holes  bored  with  a  tapering  bit, 
flattened  at  the  top,  and  pierced  with  a  hole.  The  iron 
must  be  driven  into  the  hole,  so  that  it  bears  the  stress  by 
friction  alone.  The  force  applied  in  stretching  is  so  great 
that  the  posts  may  yield  and  turn  a  little.     To  prevent 


48  TIIE    GEAPB    VINE. 

this,  the  lowest  wire  is  fastened  to  the  front  part  (south 
Bide)  of  the  post,  the  second  to  the  back  side 

The  Lowesl  wire  is  to  be  stretched  about  a  foot  from  the 
ground;  the  others  at  distances  from  twelve  to  sixteen 
inches.     Four  wires  will  make  a  trellis  five  feet  high. 

We  will  now  compare  such  an  arrangement  with  a  vine- 
yard of  single  vines  trained  to  poles.  Supposing  the  piece 
of  ground  is  eighty  feet  square,  there  will  be  twenty-one 
trellises,  if  the  rows  are  four  feet  distant  from  each  other. 
As  each  vine  covers  ten  feet  of  the  trellis,  there  will  be 
eight  vines  in  a  row,  consequently  168  in  the  whole.  If  a 
vineyard  is  planted  of  single  vines  three  and  a  half  feet 
apart  each  way,  there  will  be  24  vines  in  a  row,  that  is, 
576  vines  in  the  whole.  But  if  the  vines  are  planted  three 
feet  apart  each  way,  as  it  is  usually  done,  there  will  be 
?;29  vines  and  posts.  Although  it  is  impossible  to  estimate 
the  first  cost  of  each  of  these  arrangements,  even  approx- 
imately, as  the  prices  of  the  posts,  as  well  as  those  of  the 
wire,  vary  very  much ;  yet  trellised  vines  cover  the  whole 
space,  and  consequently  bear  much  more  abundantly  than 
vines  trained  to  posts,  so  that  trellises  are  proper  and  more 
profitable  than  posts. 

VINES    TRAINED    TO    TRELLISES. 

The  bearing  canes  of  vines,  occupying  a  trellis  ten  or 
twelve  feet  wide,  or  five  or  six  feet  high,  may  be  grown  in 
the  middle,  and  evenly  destributed  over  it,  in  the  shape  of 
a  fan.  From  eight  to  ten  canes  are  sufficient,  and  they 
may  be  easily  grown  on  a  stem  only  a  few  feet  in  extent. 
Figure  5  represents  such  a  vine,  immediately  after  pruning 
in  the  fall.  The  canes  which  have  borne  have  been  al- 
ready removed,  but  the  places  of  the  cuts  of  the  shoots, 
intended  for  canes,  are  only  indicated.  Also  some  spurs 
are  to  be  seen  at  A  and  By  the  shoots  which  will  start  from 


THE    GRAPE    VINE. 


49 


their  buds  will  enable  the  vine  dresser  to  reduce  the  height 
of  the  stem  in  the  following  year.     If  only  two  branches 


Fig.  5.— VINE   ON   TRELLIS,    PRUNED. 

of  the  stem  are  shortened  every  year,  the  vine  will  always 
be  kept  within  moderate  bounds. 


J.   P.    BRONNER'S    METHOD. 

According  to  this  method  all  branches  and  shoots  form 
right  angles  with  the  stems  and  canes  from  which  they 
grow.  [Whether  Bronner  had  any  knowledge  of  Speech- 
ly's  and  Hoare's  plan  I  cannot  tell,  although  it  is  hardly 
probable. —  Translator.]  It  is  very  similar  to  the  methods 
adopted  at  Thomery  and  Fontainebleau,  where  nearly  all 
the  grapes  are  grown  which  are  consumed  at  Paris.  It  is 
the  special  object  of  this  method  to  cause  an  equal  distri- 
bution of  the  ssp,  and  to  cover  the  whole  trellis  equally 
with  bearing  canes.  It  is  adapted  to  free  trellises,  as  well 
as  to  such  as  are  arranged  on  walls.  The  form  of  the 
right  angle  is  especially  adapted  to  walls  with  windows 
and  doors,  as  it  is  in  conformity  with  them.     The  dis- 


50 


I  HE   GRAPE    TONE. 


tanccs  between  the  vines,  trained  to  a  free  trellis,  may  be 
eight  or  ten  feet ;  for  those  on  walls,  twelve  feet  and  more. 

All  strips  and  wires  must  run  in  a  horizontal  direction ; 
the  unequal  numbers,  three,  live,  seven,  etc.,  according  to 
the  height,  must  be  preserved.  The  first  wire  must  be 
stretched  a  foot  from  the  ground  ;  the  others  at  distances 
of  sixteen  inches  each. 

A  single  trellis  consists  of  three  wires ;  the  two  arms 
are  tied  to  the  lowest,  and  the  bearing  canes  are  tied  in  a 
vertical  direction  to  the  two  next  wires.  A  double  trellis 
consists  of  five  wires,  and  has  horizontal  arms  tied  to  the 
first  and  third ;  the  canes  from  the  third  wire  are  to  be 
tied  to  the  fourth  and  fifth. 

A  trellis  of  three  stories  consists  of  seven  wires,  having 
arms  on  the  first,  third  and  fifth  ;  the  canes  of  the  fifth  are 
to  be  tied  to  the  sixth  and  seventh.  AVe  will  now  consider 
the  management  of  a  single  trellis  with  three  wires.  Be- 
fore the  vine  can  be  trained  to  it,  it  must  have  attained 
vigor  and  a  good  size. 

A  vine,  two  years  old,  when  planted  in  the  fall,  must  be 
cut  down  to  one  eye.  The  shoot,  pushing  from  it,  must 
not  be  interfered  with;  it  must  grow  undisturbed  without 
pinching  and  stopping.  This  treatment  will  tend  to  pro- 
duce fibrous  roots. 

In  the  following  year,  the  vine  is  to  be  cut  down  to  two 
buds,  and  should,  in  the  next  year,  the  two  canes  not  be 
so  thick  as  a  child's  finger,  they 
must  be  cut  down  again,  and 
treated  as  described.  If  a  cutting 
is  planted,  it  will  require  at  least 
three  years  to  make  it  strong 
enough    for   training.      The   third 

-FIRST   PRUNING.  °  & 

year  of  the  growth  of  the  young 
vine  is,  therefore,  the  first  of  the  training.  The  two  years' 
plant,  having  grown  a  year  in  the  place  assigned  to  it, 


THE    GRAPE    VINE. 


51 


makes  in  the  summer  a  shoot  to  be  pruned  to  two  eyes  in 
the  fall.     Figure  6. 

These  two  buds  will  produce  two  shoots  in  the  follow- 
ing (the  second)  year,  figure  7,  which  are  left  four  feet 
long  at  pruning,  and  are  changed  to  brown  canes  in  the 
fall.     There  will  be  a  great  many  buds  on  them,  which 


Fig.  7. — SECOND   PRUNING. 

will  all  push  in  the  next  spring.  Four  are  selected  on 
each  arm,  on  the  upper  side  of  it,  and  distributed  as  equally 
as  possible,  (figure  8) ;  the  green  shoots  proceeding  from 
them  must  be  suffered  to  grow  undisturbed,  while  all  the 
other  buds  must  be  rubbed  off.  In  this  way,  eight  shoots 
will  be  obtained  at  nearly  equal  distances  from  each  other, 
which  are  to  be  tied  vertically  to  the  two  upper  wires  as 


Fig.  8. — PRUNING   THE    CANES. 


soon  as  they  reach  them.  In  the  (third)  fall  the  unequal 
numbers  one  and  three  of  the  shoots,  being  now  canes,  are 
pruned  back  to  two  buds,  but  the  equal  numbers  two  and 
four  to  three  buds.     Figure  8. 


THE   i;kape  VINE. 


In  the  following  (the  fourth)  year  one  shoot  of  the 
spurs,  corresponding  to  the  unequal  numbers,  and  pruned 
to  two  eyes,  is  suffered  to  grow,  but  the  other  is  rubbed 
off,  because  it  was  only  left  on  account  of  the  possibility 
of  an  accident  to  either  of  them.  The  shoots,  pruned  to 
the  three  buds,  (the  equal  numbers,)  will  bear  fruit ;  they 
must  be  pinched,  as  explained,  and  no  green  shoot  must 


Fig.  9.— FIRST  TEAR   OF    FRUITING. 

be  permitted  to  grow.  The  lowest  buds  of  a  cane  being 
mostly  wood  buds,  only  the  third  buds  will  show  blos- 
soms.    Figure  9. 

This  will  not  weaken  the  vine.  In  the  fall  of  the  fourth 
year,  the  canes  of  the  unequal  numbers  are  pruned  to  five 
or  six  eyes,  as  shown  in  figure  9,  but  the  equal  numbers, 
having  borne  fruit,  to  two  eyes. 

In  the  following  (the  fifth)  year,  the  canes  of  the  une- 
qual numbers  will  bear  along  their  whole  length  for  the 
first  time,  figure  10,  and  each  of  the  spurs  of  the  equal 
numbers  will  produce  a  strong  shoot  for  a  bearing  cane. 
Now  everything  remains  in  the  same  order,  the  equal  and 
unequal  numbers  alternately  bearing  or  making  shoots. 
As  the  shoot  on  the  strong  arm  retains  but  one  bud  in  the 
year  in  which  this  is  to  be  grown  for  a  cane,  it  receives 
an  abundance  of  sap  to  make  the  canes  strong  ;  and  as  the 


THE    GRAPE    TINE. 


53 


bearing  canes  on  the  same  arms  are  not  permitted  to  make 
a  single  shoot,  they  are  supplied  with  ample  nourishment 
for  perfecting  fruit.  The  functions  of  all  the  parts  of  the 
vine  are  performed  alternately,  so  that  none  of  them  is 
taxed  too  heavily. 

If  a  double  trellis  is  to  be  covered,  more  time  is  re- 
quired ;  the  upper  story  must  not  be  made  to  bear  in  the 
same  year  as  the  lower,  but  several  years  later,  and  so  on. 

Each  branch  growing  from  an  arm  must  be  regarded  as 
an  independent  vine,  as  it  were,  which  is  prolonged  every 


10.— SECOND    YEAR   OF   FRUITING. 


year  by  a  joint.  The  same  means  which  are  employed  to 
reduce  the  height  of  a  vine,  must  be  used  in  managing  a 
branch.  The  shoots  pushing  from  wood  eyes  on  the  old 
wood  must  be  suffered  to  grow ;  they  are  pruned  in  the 
fall  to  spurs  from  which  a  shoot  is  grown  to  replace  the 
old  wood  above  it. 

It  is  frequently  necessary  to  train  a  vine  so  that  the  bear- 
ing canes  are  at  considerable  distance  from  the  ground,  for 
instance,  in  streets  and  yards  where  people  are  going  to  and 
fro. .  A  cane,  tied  in  a  vertical  direction  to  the  wall,  must 
then  be  grown  as  a  stem,  without  any  branches  whatever: 
Only  the   leaves  are  left,  as  long  as  it  is  an  object    to 


54 


THE    GRAPE    VINE. 


strengthen  it.  If  the  uppermost  bud  is  permitted  to 
push,  the  height  is  soon  reached  where  the  horizontal  arms 

are  desired,  which  have  to  rest  on  wires.  It  is  important 
not  to  reach  the  height  too  soon.  If  four  feet  are  added 
annually  to  the  height  of  the  stem,  the  arms  and  bearing 
canes  will  be  so  high  that  they  cannot  be  touched  by  a 
person  on  the  ground.  The  arrangement  just  described, 
according  to  which  bearing  canes  and  shoots  are  grown 
alternately  along  the  horizontal  wires,  is  very  well  adapted 


Fig.  11.— ARCADE   TRELLIS. 

for  this  purpose.  The  height  of  the  space  between  two 
windows  of  a  house  affords  room  enough  for  a  second  wire 
to  tie  the  bearing  canes  to  it.  Vines  may  be  planted  in  a 
great  many  other  places  to  make  them  profitable,  and  to 
embellish  them,  as  near  the  columns  of  a  verandah,  to 
cover  the  wire  roof  of  a  poultry  yard,  etc.  If  the  princi- 
ples of  the  management  are  understood,  their  application 
to  a  given  case  is  not  difficult.  .Arbors,  covered  with 
grape  vines,  ought,  under  no  circumstances,  to  be  clothed 
Avith  vines  on  both  sides  and  above,  because  it  will  make 
the  inside  moist  and  shady,  so  that  the  grapes  will  not 


THK   GRAPE    VIXE.  55 

ripen  perfectly.  An  excellent  arrangement  for  growing 
table  grapes  is  the  so-called  arcade  arbor,  of  which  only 
the  outlines  can  be  given  here.  The  framework,  made  of 
wood,  is  indicated,  figure  14,  by  straight  lines. 

Strong  posts  are  set  at  equal  distances  from  each  other, 
of  seven  or  eight  feet,  on  which  two  trellis  strips  or  wires, 
a  foot  and  a  half  or  two  feet  distant,  are  arranged.  A 
vine  is  planted  to  each  post,  trained  up  to  the  first  strip, 
and  two  arms  from  it  are  laid  in  along  the  strip. 

A  height  of  seven  or  eicrlit  feet  from  the  ground  to  the 

o  o  o 

lowest  strip  is  sufficient,  according  as  it  may  be  desirable 
to  have  the  clusters  higher  or  lower.  Roses  may  be  grown 
between  the  vines,  especially  if  the  stem  has  no  branches. 
Such  an  arcade  is,  as  it  were,  a  vineyard  in  the  air,  which 
makes  little  shade,  so  that  the  beds  below  may  be  used  for 
growing  anything  on  them ;  it  is  beautiful  to  look  at,  and 
yields  large  crops. 

TIME  REQUIRED  FOR  COVERING  A  TRELLIS. 

This  is  the  plnce  to  discuss  the  question  how  soon  the 
space  of  a  certain  trellis  may  be  covered.  If  the  canes  are 
pruned  long,  that  is,  to  sixteen  or  twenty  buds,  a  vine 
may  be  made  to  cover  a  large  space  in  a  few  years,  but  so 
rapid  a  process  has  disadvantages  peculiar  to  itself.  The 
extension  of  the  vine  ought  always  to  correspond  to  the 
probable  development  of  the  roots.  As  they  are  in  the 
ground,  not  exposed  to  view,  judgment  must  be  exercised 
by  taking  into  consideration  the  length  of  the  time,  the 
fertility  of  the  soil,  and  the  vigor,  the  length,  and  the 
number  of  the  growing  shoots.  If  the  process  is  hastened, 
and  numerous  shoots  are  left  in  the  third  and  fourth  years, 
the  root  cannot  furnish  as  much  nourishment  as  is  needed. 
Many  shoots  push,  show  blossoms,  and  remain  feeble,  and 
in  spite  of  regular  pinching,  the  lowest  eyes  do  not  push 
vigorously.     They  yield  many  bunches  of  small  size  ;  they 


5G  THE    GEAPE   VINE. 

will  not  be  sweet,  and  will  ripen  late.  In  the  next  fall 
the  canes  are  changes  to  stems  ;  there  are  no  strong  shoots 
to  make  good  canes  in  the  fall.  The  shoots  grow  very 
high  on  the  stem,  which  has  grown  to  an  enormous  extent. 

This  results  from  pruning  a  vine  too  long.  In  this  case 
it  is  necessary  to  prune  down  to  the  old  wood,  in  order  to 
produce  few,  but  more  vigorous  shoots.  The  crop,  after  a 
rich  harvest,  will  be  small;  the  advantage,  gained  by  the 
prematurely  hastened  production,  will  be  lost,  and  the 
development  of  the  vine  will  be  put  back  a  year.  If  this 
circumstance  is  always  kept  in  view,  the  temptation  to  ob- 
tain an  abundant  crop  by  long  pruning  will  be  easily  re- 
sisted. 

It  is  only  the  question  whether  the  covering  by  a  vine 
of  a  space  twelve  feet  wide  shall  be  accomplished  two  or 
three  years  sooner.  A  slower  procedure  is  much  prefera- 
ble, as  it  makes  both  the  steins  and  the  roots  stronger. 
How  long  a  vine  ought  to  be  pruned,  that  is,  how  many 
eyes  ought  to  be  left,  is  different  in  different  kinds  of 
grapes.  The  cluster  never  grows  from  the  first  bud  of 
the  shoot,  and  not  lower  than  from  the  fourth  and  fifth; 
likewise  the  lowest  buds  of  the  canes  rarely  bear  fruit. 
There  are  kinds  which  bear  fruit  on  shoots  from  the 
seventh  and  eight  bud  /  there  are  others,  like  the  Chasselas, 
ichich  bear  grapes  on  the  lowest  shoots. 

Should  the  former  be  pruned  belowr  the  seventh  eye, 
then  all  the  fruit  bearing  buds  would  be  cut  off,  and  only 
wood  buds  would  be  left ;  consequently  they  would  not 
bear  fruit.  This  explains  the  experience  of  all  vinyard- 
ists  that  close  pruning  produces  much  wood  and  little 
fruit,  because  the  eyes,  organized  for  blooming,  are  cut  off. 
The  opinion  is  pretty  generally  prevalent  that  if  the  sup- 
ply of  sap  should  be  too  abundant,  only  wood  and  no 
fruit  would  be  produced,  and  that  the  fruit  only  requires 
a  very  moderate  supply  of  sap.  This  opinion  is,  no  doubt, 
erroneous,  as  the  fruit  demands  more  nourishment  than 


THE    GKAPE   VIXE.  57 

any  other  part  of  the  plant.  This  is  sufficiently  proven  by 
the  fact  that  an  abundant  crop  prevents  the  vigorous  de- 
velopment of  the  branches  very  much. 

The  same  takes  place  in  regard  to  apples  and  pears. 
Too  close  priming  produces  only  wood  shoots,  not,  how- 
ever, on  account  of  a  super-abundance  of  sap,  but  because 
the  fruit  buds,  which  grow  more  towards  the  end  of  the 
shoots,  have  been  cut  off.  On  the  other  hand  we  find  that 
our  rule  holds  good,  namely,  that  we  have  to  prune  very 
close,  in  order  to  obtain  strong  wood  for  the  next  year, 
even  if  the  rich  crops  of  the  current  year  should  be  lost. 
It  would  be  foolish  to  grow,  as  unskilled  gardeners  do, 
every  year  nothing  but  wood  and  very  little  fruit.  A  gen- 
eral knowledge  of  the  varieties,  in  regard  to  the  eyes, 
which  will  he  fruitful,  is  a  sure  guide.  Varieties  bearing 
higher  up  must  be  pruned  to  twelve  or  fifteen  buds  ;  the 
lower  bearing  ones  to  six  or  eight  eyes.  To  the  former 
belong  the  varieties  from  the  South,  such  as  Malvasierand 
the  like,  often,  also, kinds  ripening  late;  those  that  ripen 
early,  and  are  accustomed  to  our  climate,  as  the  Chasselas, 
bear  on  the  lower  eyes. 

MANURING. 

The  grape  vine,  like  all  other  plants,  takes  from  the  soil 
certain  constituents  which  must  be  replaced  to  grow  them 
successfully.  They  are  the  so-called  mineral  ingredients 
which  cannot  be  supplied  by  the  atmosphere.  To  them 
belong  especially  potash  and  phosphoric  acid,  combined 
with  lime. 

If  the  culture  of  the  vine  could  be  so  managed  that 
only  the  alcohol  and  the  sugar  were  taken  from  the  vine- 
yard, and  that  all  other  things  taken  from  the  vine  were 
given  back  to  the  soil  of  the  vineyard,  no  other  manuring 
would  be  needed.  But  along  with  the  wine,  also  tartar, 
and  in  this  the  potash  is  sold,  as  well  as  phosphate  of 
lime.  All  the  tartar  sold  and  bought  is  derived  from  wine, 
3* 


58  THE   GEAPB   VINE. 

and  contains  potash,  of  which  the  soil  of  the  vineyard 
has  been  robbed.  If  that  is  not  restored,  and  if  it  does 
not  exist  in  the  soil  in  the  greatest  abundance,  the  growth 
of  the  vine  must  be  impaired.  It  is  a  fact  that  in  former 
years  the  vine  was  planted  in  plains  to  a  much  greater  ex- 
tent than  at  present  ;  so,  many  places  in  the  Margraviate 
Brandenburg  designate  some  tracts  of  land  by  calling  them 
vineyards,  though  not  a  single  vine  is  now  growing  there. 
An  animal  cannot  form  bones  except  by  such  food  as  con- 
tains phosphate  of  lime  ;  a  hen  cannot  lay  eggs  with  hard 
shells,  if  her  nourishment  does  not  contain  lime.  The  vine 
cannot  form  tartar  when  it  is  wanting  in  potash,  and  the 
tartar,  as  it  appears,  is  formed  like  the  bones  and  the  shell 
of  the  eggs,  because  it  is  never  wanting,  and  the  plant 
ceases  growing  without  a  full  supply  of  potash.  For 
these  reasons,  the  culture  of  the  vine  has  ceased  in 
regions  with  little  potash  in  the  soil,  after  it  had  languished 
for  a  number  of  years  without  giving  any  profit.  In  plains 
it  is  impossible  to  restore  the  potash,  except  by  man  itself; 
but  who  could  be  induced  to  simply  it  without  knowing 
the  cause  of  the  failure  ?  In  mountainous  districts  the 
cause  is  very  different ;  the  soil  near  the  Moselle,  the 
Rhine,  the  Nahe,  and  the  Ahr  consists  of  argillaceous 
slate ;  there  the  stones  are  spread  all  over  the  inclined 
plains  of  the  vineyards,  so  that  not  a  single  square  inch 
of  the  soil  remains  uncovered,  and  the  vineyards  look 
more  like  quarries  than  plantations  of  vines.  During  the 
whole  winter  the  stones,  containing  frequently  as  much  as 
three  per  cent,  of  potash,  are  disintegrated  by  the  weather, 
and  the  little  particles  are  washed  down  into. the  soil  by 
rain  and  melting  snow,  and  supply  there  the  loss  caused 
by  the  removal  of  the  last  crop.  As  long  as  stones  of  this 
are  abundant  in  those  vineyards,  potash  is  not  wanting  ; 
therefore  the  softest  of  such  stones  are  preferred ;  and 
where  they  are  not  found  in  small  pieces,  they  are  severed 
from  the  rocks  with  sledge  hammers,  and  even  with  pow- 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  59 

der,  to  cover  the  clean  soil  of  the  vineyards  with  them, 
although  this  requires  much  labor. 

This  is  manuring  with  minerals  in  the  best  form,  al- 
though it  is  the  general  belief  that  the  stones  serve  only 
for  warming  the  soil,  and  for  preventing  it  from  being  car- 
ried off  by  heavy  rains.  They  are  effective  in  this  respect 
also,  it  is  true,  but  they  yield  potash,  and  supply  that 
which  has  been  abstracted.  It  is  the  chief  benefit  derived 
from  them. 

Should  any  one  be  skeptical,  he  can  easily  convince  him- 
self by  taking  for  this  purpose  stones,  destitute  of  potash. 
The  experience  of  a  few  years  will  be  sufficient  to  show 
him  the  value  of  stones,  containing  potash.  In  Deides- 
heim,  on  the  Haardt  Mountains,  disintegrated  basalt  is 
carried  into  the  vineyards  at  great  expense.  There  the 
soil  in  the  plains  contains  but  little  potash,  not  enough  to 
supply  the  vines  in  adequate  proportions.  Experience  has 
taught  people  that  stones  carried  into  the  vineyards  from 
so  great  a  distance  yield  the  supply  needed  ;  it  is  manur- 
ing with  minerals.  Basalt  contains  from  two  to  four  per 
cent  of  potash.  But  not  only  potash,  but  also  phosphate 
of  lime  must  be  restored,  which  is  generally  done  by  cow 
manure.  It  is  true,  cow  manure  contains  phosphate  of 
lime,  and  a  sufficient  quantity  of  potash.  If  we  had  al- 
ways a  sufficient  supply  of  it,  the  potash,  as  well  as,  espe- 
cially, the  phosphate  of  lime,  carried  off  in  the  wine,  would 
be  restored  to  the  soil.  But  cow  manure  is  getting  daily 
more  expensive,  and  enough  of  it  cannot  be  procured. 
When  it  shall  have  reached  a  certain  price,  vineyard  cul- 
ture, which  does  not  yield  even  now  in  our  region  a  cer- 
tain crop  every  year,  will  not  be  profitable  any  more; 
we  have  nearly  arrived  at  that  point.  • 

The  cause  why  the  price  of  cow  manure  is  rising  daily, 
lies  simply  in  the  fact  that  the  potash  and  phosphate  of 
lime  have  been  abstracted  from  the  fields  to  such  a  degree 
that  they  are  exhausted.      If   the   farmer   cannot  grow 


60  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

clover,  he  has  no  feed  for  his  cows,  and  cannot  sell  manure 
The  number  of  fanners  whose  fields  are  becoming  unpro- 
ductive is  rapidly  increasing,  so  that  the  price  of  manure 
must  rise  rapidly,  because  it  is  getting  very  scarce.  The 
fields  of  the  farmers  are  impoverished  when  they  sell  the 
manure,  and  do  not  use  it  for  fertilizing  their  own  fields. 
It  is  an  incontrovertible  fact  that  the  land  is  impoverished 
by  selling  the  products  of  agriculture,  even  without  selling 
manure ;  how  much  more  certain  and  rapid  will  be  its 
ruin,  if,  in  addition  to  the  products,  the  manure  also  is  sold. 
A  farmer  who  sells  manure  is  a  prodigal  living  on  his  cap- 
ital ;  he  lights  his  candle  simultaneously  at  both  ends. 
For  a  man  who  cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  sell  his 
manure,  the  day  is  already  appointed  on  which  his  field 
will  come  under  the  hammer,  and  which  will  make  him 
either  an  emigrant  or  a  beggar.  Emigration  is  a  proof  of 
the  exhaustion  of  the  soil;  thus  the  culture  of  vineyards 
becomes  a  curse  to  an  agricultural  country.  It  hangs  like 
a  vampire  on  the  neck  of  the  country,  sucking  the  potash 
and  phosphate  of  lime.  It  is  my  intention  to  stir  up  the 
farmers  not  to  sell  any  more  (not  even  an  ounce,)  manure 
to  the  owners  of  vineyards,  for  the  interest  of  both.  If 
the  land  of  the  farmers  is  ruined  by  selling  manure,  the 
owners  of  vineyards  cannot  get  from  them  what  they  need, 
so  that  they  will  be  forced  at  last  to  become  independent 
of  them.  It  is  my  ardent  wish  that  this  may  take  place 
before  the  farmer  is  ruined. 

The  vinyardist  will  buy  manure  as  long  as  it  is  offered 
to  him  at  a  suitable  price ;  he  can  console  himself,  should 
a  farmer  be  ruined,  by  buying  his  field  at  the  sheriff's 
sale.  As  it  is  the  firmer  who  is  ruined  first,  he  ought 
t  ( i  commence  resistance,  and  to  refuse  to  sell  manure,  or 
to  ask  such  a  price  that  he  can  buy  double  the  value  of 
it  in  bone  dust,  guano  and  wood  ashes.  He  must  use  the 
money  received  for  the  manure  in  buying  the  materials 
just    mentioned,    and    give    them    back    to   his    fields. 


THE    GRAPE   VINE.  61 

Should  the  farmer  get  only  sufficient  money  for  his  manure 
to  buy  an  equivalent  of  bone  dust,  he  has  not  sold  at  a 
profit.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the  vinyardist  has  to  pay 
double  the  amount  for  cow  manure  that  he  does  for  an 
equivalent  in  bone  dust  or  leached  ashes,  he  will  cease 
buying  manure,  and  will  prefer  to  buy  bone  dust  for  his 
money,  of  which  he  receives  double  the  value  as  a  manure 
for  the  same  amount.  If,  however,  the  vinyardist  con- 
tends that  he  cannot  do  without  animal  manure,  which  is 
not  yet  proven,  he  may  then  pay  to  the  farmer  the  double 
price  asked  ;  for  error  must  pay  a  tax.  In  this  case  the 
vinyardist  receives  what  he  wishes,  and  the  farmer  has 
his  profit  If  the  same  individual  cultivates  vineyards  as 
well  as  fields,  he  may  use  his  barnyard  manure  for  his 
vineyards,  and  bone  dust,  guano,  and  leached  ashes  for  his 
fields.  II  he  cultivates  only  vineyards,  he  must  become 
independent  of  the  farmer,  who  will  continue  raising  the 
price  for  manure,  so  that  the  vinyardist  cannot  buy  it 
any  more.  As  soon  as  the  price  for  manure  rises  higher 
than  that  for  an  equal  quantity  of  fertilizing  material  in 
bone  dust  and  guano,  the  vinyardist  is  forced  to  use  them 
for  fertilizing  purposes.  If  a  vineyard  is  situated  in  a  re- 
gion of  argillaceous  slate,  and  if  the  surface  of  it  is  cov- 
ered with  a  stratum  of  this  material,  only  bone  dust  is  re- 
quired for  manuring ;  but  if  the  vineyard  is  in  a  plain 
where  disintegrated  rock  cannot  be  supplied,  something 
besides  must  be  used  containing  potash,  for  instance :  wood 
ashes,  leached  ashes,  dust  from  such  roads  and  turnpikes 
as  are  covered  with  granite,  syenite,  basalt,  and  similar 
rocks  containing  small  proportions  of  potash ;  also  soap- 
suds, chloride  of  potassium  and  sulphate  of  potash.  It  de- 
pends altogether  on  the  price  whether  the  one  or  the  other  of 
the  materials  mentioned  deserves  the  preference.  Of  these 
manuring  materials,  leached  ashes  and  road  dust  may  be 
used  immediately ;  those,  however,  which  are  soluble,  for 
instance,  wood  ashes,  soapsuds,  chloride  of  potasssium  and 


62  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

sulphate  of  potash,  require  some  preparation.  All  mineral 
Btuffs,  fit  for  the  nourishment  of  plants,  become  insoluble 
in  contact  with  the  soil ;  to  prevent  them  from  reaching 
the  roots  of  the  vines  in  a  soluble  form,  they  must  be 
mixed  with  large  quantities  of  good  soil.  Sufficient  water 
is  then  poured  on  it  to  wet  it  thoroughly,  and  so  it  re- 
mains long  enough  for  the  chemical  changes.  The  result 
is  an  insoluble  compound  of  the  soil  and  the  salts  of  pot- 
ash, which  may  be  used  as  manure. 

In  the  fall,  some  of  the  soil  on  the  northern  side  of  the 
rows  is  removed,  and  some  of  the  above  compound  is  laid 
there;  rain  and  snow  will  wash  the  fertilizing  material 
into  the  soil. 

It  is  true,  this  chemical  combination  is  nearly  insoluble 
in  pure  water,  but  the  soil  surrounding  the  roots  of  the 
vine  has  an  affinity  for  these  stuffs,  and  in  virtue  of 
it,  the  particles  of  the  salts  of  potash  continue  spreading 
from  grain  to  grain  of  the  soil  until  they  are  evenly  dis- 
tributed. This  process  is  similar  to  the  cementation  of 
iron,  in  which  the  molecules  of  carbon  change  their 
places  without  ever  having  been  volatile  or  liquid. 

The  carbon  gradually  penetrates  the  white-hot,  soft  iron 
bars,  until  they  are  changed  into  steel.  Precisely  in  the 
same  way  mineral  substances  penetrate  in  the  exhausted  soil 
from  above  downwards,  and  reach  the  roots  in  such  a  con- 
dition that  they  can  be  absorbed  by  them  without  injury. 

The  roots  of  the  vine  are  very  sensitive  to  soluble  fer- 
tilizing materials.  Liquid  barn-yard  manure,  incautiously 
used,  may  kill  or  make  them  sick.  In  the  summer  following 
the  application  of  it,  the  leaves  turn  yellow,  the  shoots 
that  push  are  feeble,  and  the  fruit  remains  poor,  and  does 
not  mature.  Liquid  barn-yard  manure  ought,  therefore, 
never  be  brought  in  direct  contact  with  the  roots. 

Urine,  not  decomposed,  contains  urea,  and  not  yet  carbon- 
ate of  ammonia,  and  the  urine  of  man,  besides,  has  a  large 
proportion  of  common  salt.     If  this  liquid  manure  is  to 


THR   GRAPE   TINE.  C3 

be  used  for  manuring  purposes,  it  must  be  prepared  in  the 
same   way.      It    must    be    mixed   with  sufficient  soil  to 
form  a  stiff  paste,  which  is  to  be  exposed  to  sunshine  and 
rain.     The  heat  decomposes  the  urea;  it  is  changed  to 
carbonate   of  ammonia,  and  fixed  and   retained   by  the 
soil,  while  the  undecomposed  urea  filtrates  through  the 
soil,  and  is  carried  down  to  the  roots.     The  common  salt 
is  not  fixed  by  the  soil,  and  is  washed  out  and  carried  off 
by  the  rain.     Liquid  manure,  so  prepared,  may,  in  a  solid 
form,  be  unhesitatingly  used  as  manure.      The  method 
just  described,  is  nearly  identical  with  that  of  the  Japa- 
nese, and  which  that  nation,  during  thousands  of  years,  has 
followed  in  the  management  and  preparation  of  manure, 
and  which  has  reached  us  only  by  a  very  long  and  circuitous 
route.     Our  bam  cellars,  built  at  great  expense,  and  re- 
warded by  premiums  as  models,  are,  with  exception  of  the 
water-tight  floor,  nothing  but  humbugs.     They  have  been 
resorted  to  through  the  error  of  the  nitrogenous  theory. 
We  attempt  to  retain  in  force,  what,  in  contact  with  the 
soil,  remains   of  itself,  viz.:    the   ammonia;    we   guard 
against  sunshine  and  heat,  and  prevent  thereby  the  de- 
composition of  the  urea;  we  keep  what  ought  to  be  wash- 
ed out,  the  common  salt.     But  to  return  to  the  Japanese 
method  of  preparing  and  managing  manure.    We  must  col- 
lect and  preserve  all  the  offal  obtained  from  our  domestic 
life  to  be  composted  with  soil,  refuse  of  straw,  etc.,  and  to 
be  exposed  to  sunshine  and  rain.    Nothing  useful  is  washed 
out ;  that  which  is  important  and  needed  undergoes  the 
necessary  changes,  and  that  which  is  injurious  is  remov- 
ed.    There  is,  however,  another  reason  why  liquid  manure 
ought  to  be  subjected  to  the  process  of  decomposition  and 
condensation.     It  is  asserted  that  the  disagreeable  odor 
of  liquid  manure  exerts  an  injurious  influence  on  the  per- 
fume of  the  Avine.     I  have  not  had  any  experience  of  this 
alleged  fact ;  but  I  know  from  experience  that  liquid  ma- 
nure makes  vines  sickly. 


04  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

In  Mulder's  work,  The  Chemistry  of  the  Wine,  there  is 
the  following  passage,  (p.  13,  of  the  German  translation 
by  Charles  Arenz,  Leipsic,  185G) :  "  It  is  remarkable  that 
fetid  manure,  fecal  matter,  and  the  mud  of  large  cities 
have  an  injurious  influence  upon  the  perfume  of  the  wine, 
while,  on  the  contrary,  inodorous  manures,  which  decom- 
pose slowly,  for  instance,  wool,  horn  and  bone-black,  have 
;t  beneficial  effect  upon  the  perfume.  The  fetid  organic 
ingredients  of  the  manure  pass,  therefore,  over  into  the 
plants  in  such  a  quantity  that  they  are  perceivable  in  the 
fruit ;  so  is  the  fetid  odor  of  decaying  fishes  easily  distin- 
guished in  the  cauliflower  when  manured  with  them.  It 
is  not  without  danger  to  pronounce  these  facts  aloud  in  a 
time  in  which  it  is  said  of  the  plants  that  they  do  not  take 
up  the  slightest  particle  from  the  soil;  I  risk  it,  however, 
to  mention  the  facts." 

This  passage  of  Mulder  has  reference  to  the  principles 
of  agricultural  chemistry  established  by  Liebig  to  which 
Mulder  is  scientifically,  and  also  personally,  opposed,  which 
is  to  be  regretted.  But  Mulder  could  not  have  found  a 
better  proof  for  Liebig's  principles  than  just  that  one  be- 
fore us,  which  he  uses  as  a  weapon  against  them.  If  the 
odorous  ingredients  of  the  manure  are  such  as  are  perceiv- 
able in  the  plant,  they  have  not  been  received  and  assimi- 
lated by  the  plant.  Liebig  speaks  only  of  the  assimilation 
of  certain  bodies  by  the  plant  itself.  The  sugar,  the  albu- 
men, the  fibres  in  the  fetid  cauliflower,  have  assuredly 
their  origin  in  inorganic  matter ;  the  organic  ingredients 
of  the  decaying  fishes  in  it  have  not  become  parts  of  the 
cauliflower.  The  fact  itself  proves  the  necessity  of  de- 
animalizing  all  manure  that  is  fetid,  i.  e.,  to  change  it  as 
much  as  possible  to  inorganic  matter  by  the  aid  of  atmos- 
pheric influences. 

In  garden  and  field  culture,  large  heaps  of  weeds  are 
accumulating  ;  they  are  excellent  for  receiving  liquid  ma- 
nure.    They  are  light  and  permeable,  producing,  by  the  aid 


THE    GRAPE   VINE.  65 

of  liquid  manure,  in  a  short  time  a  mould,  which  retains 
with  great  tenacity  all  mineral  ingredients.  When  expos- 
ed during  the  summer,  and  until  January  and  February, 
to  the  influence  of  sun  and  rain,  and  dug  over  several 
times,  they  make  a  very  powerful  manure.  Offal  of  the 
house,  of  wood  stoves,  and  of  bones,  is  also  added.  He 
who  cannot  obtain  cow  manure  may  buy,  during  the  sum- 
mer, a  sufficient  supply  of  horse  manure,  which  can  easily 
be  got,  because  people  do  not  attach  much  value  to  it. 
If  managed  in  the  right  way,  it  serves  a  very  good  pur- 
pose. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  horse  manure  is  too  hot.  This 
is  a  belief  not  well  founded  in  fact ;  the  assertion  is  with- 
out sense.  Horse  manure  is  too  light  and  so  much  mixed 
with  straw,  that  it  cannot  have  the  same  fertilizing  power 
in  the  same  bulk  as  cow  manure.  If  the  horse  manure  is 
well  prepared  and  managed  during  the  summer,  it  can  be 
deprived  of  its  heating  power  and  lightness.  It  must  be 
composted  in  alternate  layers  with  garden  soil  and  coal 
ashes ;  all  bones  that  have  been  collected  must  be  put  in 
the  horse  manure,  but  not  too  many  in  the  same  place ; 
liquid  manure  must  then  be  poured  over  the  heap,  and 
this  must  be  covered  about  four  inches  deep  with  garden 
soil.  So  prepared,  it  remains  exposed  to  rain  and  sun ; 
should  a  long  drouth  prevail,  it  must  be  sprinkled  from 
the  rose  of  a  water-pot.  The  heaps  shrink  considerably, 
but  lose  not  a  particle  of  useful  ingredients  by  evapora- 
tion. When  dug  over  from  time  to  time,  they  make  an 
entirely  homogenous  and  very  powerful  manure.  Fre- 
quently this  operation  is  called  composting,  which,  on  the 
whole,  does  not  mean  anything  definite.  It  is  paramount 
that  the  materials  used  for  compost  heaps  should  con- 
tain potash  and  phosphoric  acid.  Composting  exists,  then, 
in  such  operations  as  tend  to  render  those  mineral  materi- 
als insoluble  in  connection  with  soil,  wTarmth  and  moisture. 
Heat  offers  the  conditions  of  decomposition,  and  moisture 


66  THE    GEAPB   VINE; 

is  instrumental  in  equally  distributing  and  mixing  soil  and 
vegetable  mould.  How  often  manuring  is  needed,  cannot 
be  determined  by  a  rule  that  will  hold  good  everywhere 
and  always.  If  many  good  years  succeed  each  other,  as 
was  the  case  from  1857  to  1S62,  five  times  in  six  years, 
a  more  liberal  and  frequent  application  of  manure  is  need- 
ed than  in  the  bad  years,  from  1847  to  1856.  This  follows 
directly  from  the  rule :  If  no  fruit  is  taken  from  a  vine- 
yard, the  fertilizing  mineral  ingredients  remain  in  it ;  if, 
on  the  contrary,  the  crop  is  abundant,  a  very  large  quantity 
of  potash  and  phosphoric  acid  has  been  taken  from  the 
soil.  No  attention  has  been  paid  as  yet  to  this  circum- 
stance, so  that  the  application  of  manure  after  a  bad  year 
was  the  same  as  after  a  good  one,  as  though  the  mineral 
manures  were  removed  by  the  mere  lapse  of  time. 

The  application  of  manure  ought,  without  exception,  to 
take  place  soon  after  the  fall  of  the  leaf,  as  long  as  the 
weather  permits  it.  Some  of  the  soil  at  the  back  of  the 
vine,  consequently,  according  to  our  rule,  on  the  north 
side,  being  removed  by  using  the  hoe,  the  manure  must 
be  put  in  the  little  ditch  so  made,  and  must  remain  un- 
covered during  the  whole  winter.  Rain  and  snow  decom- 
pose and  carry  the  manuring  materials  gradually  down- 
ward. In  the  spring,  the  manure  is  lightly  covered  and 
mixed  with  the  soil,  but  not  so  that  the  roots  are  injured. 
Every  two,  three,  or  four  years,  manure  is  needed.  If  the 
weather  is  favorable,  and  berries  and  clusters  remain  small, 
while  they  are  abundant  and  of  normal  size  in  neighbor- 
ing plantations,  the  soil  has  not  a  full  supply  of  mineral 
inatter.  If  the  crop  is  abundant,  it  indicates  the  necessity 
for  manuring,  because  the  mineral  matter  has  been  carried 
on°  by  it.  As  the  vine  liberally  repays  all  the  care  be- 
stowed upon  it,  there  are  always  causes  for  hetter  manur- 
ing, but  not  a  single  one  for  not  giving  enough.  There  is 
no  danger  from  an  overdose  of  well  prepared  manure;  it 
will  only  assist  in  producing  the  best  possible  crops. 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  67 

On  declivities  the  manure  must  be  placed  above  the  vines 
in  shallow  ditches,  crossing  the  vineyard.  The  soil  from 
them  is  heaped  up  on  the  lower  side  of  them.  This  soil 
collects  the  rain  water  running  down  the  hill,  and  keeps  it 
in  the  ditches  filled  with  manure.  It  penetrates  the  soil 
by  a  force  inherent  in  it.  It  is  very  wrong,  as  prescribed 
and  taught  in  many  books,  to  put  the  manure  near  the  roots. 
This  cannot  be  effected  without  injuring  them,  the  mineral 
manures  reaching  the  roots  by  cementation  and  according 
to  the  law  of  gravity.  If  they  are  abundant  above,  they 
will  not  be  wanting  below,  in  the  course  of  time. 

It  is  in  the  nature  of  things  that  a  plant  can  be  ma- 
nured with  the  offal  from  it.  Rape  may  be  grown  on  soil 
manured  with  oil  cake,  the  refuse  of  making  oil  from  rape  ; 
grape  wood,  leaves,  tendrils,  and  skins  will  assist  the 
growth  of  the  vine  very  much.  It  is,  therefore,  very  im- 
portant to  take  from  a  vineyard  or  garden  as  little  as  pos- 
sible, and  to  give  back  as  much  as  possible,  or,  in  other 
words,  nothing  but  the  grape  juice  must  be  taken  from  the 
vineyard;  everything  else  must  be  restored  to  it.  The 
canes  cut  off  in  the  fall  or  spring  must  be  chopped  into 
small  pieces  with  a  hatchet  and  mixed  with  manure.  The 
pressed  skins,  either  before  or  after  distillation,  if  brandy 
is  made,  must  be  thrown  on  the  compost  heap.  If  all  the 
refuse  parts  of  the  vine  are  used  for  preparing  manure,  it 
reduces  the  purchase  of  manure  to  the  smallest  figure ;  it 
is  as  impossible  to  avoid  it  entirely,  as  it  is  impossible 
to  invent  a  lamp  that  can  be  fed  with  the  spare  oil. 
What  is  sold  in  the  wine  itself  must  be  restored  to  the 
vineyard  from  other  sources ;  we  lessen  it  by  using  the 
offal  from  the  vine. 

If  the  pressed  skins  are  boiled  for  distilling  alcohol,  they 
are  of  course  nearly  valueless  for  manuring  purposes.  If, 
however,  Tartaric  acid,  (which  does  not  cause  a  loss  of  the 
soil,)  is  made,  part  of  the  profit  may  be  used  for  buying 
and  restoring  in  a  cheaper  form  the  potash  taken  with 


G8  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

it.  The  hopes  based  on  manuring  vines  by  using  the  offal 
from  them  have,  therefore,  not  been  realized.  Some- 
times another  way  of  manuring,  with  green  plants,  is 
talked  of;  it  is  recommended  to  sow  among  the  vines 
vetches,  turnips,  clover,  cereals  and  the  like,  and  to  dig  or 
plow  them  under  as  soon  as  those  plants  are  fully  devel- 
oped in  their  growth.  This  is  manuring  with  the  seeds 
alone.  What  those  plants  have  taken  from  the  soil  was 
already  in  it,  and  can  therefore  not  enrich  it.  Such  seeds, 
however,  are  too  expensive  to  use  as  manure,  and  the  labor 
is  too  great. 

All  such  hopes,  founded  on  imaginary  effects  of  green 
manure,  have  disappeared  before  the  light  of  exact  science. 

For  a  long  time  an  ill-founded  importance  was  ascribed 
to  digging  the  soil  of  the  vineyard,  and  it  was  recom- 
mended to  repeat  this  four  or  five  times  during  the  season. 
According  to  an  old  proverb,  to  dig  well  amounts  to  slight 
manuring,  ( Gut  gegraben  ist  halb  geduengt,)  and  the  fa- 
ble of  the  vineyard,  in  which  the  sons  are  said  to  have 
found  the  hidden  treasure  in  the  abundant  crops  by  fre- 
quent digging,  bears  testimony  to  such  a  view.  It  was  the 
result  of  the  opinion  prevailing  formerly  of  the  inexhausti- 
bility of  the  soil,  in  which  those  who  are  in  favor  of  im- 
moderate digging  share  yet.  But  as  we  know  at  present 
that  this  is  not  so,  we  find  now  that  digging  is  not  manur- 
ing, and  that  the  story  of  the  vineyard  is  but  a  story. 
The  stirring  of  the  soil  is  useful,  as  it  permits  the  air  to 
penetrate  the  soil  and  to  assist  in  the  formation  of  carbonic 
acid ;  it  opens  also  the  soil  to  a  more  thorough  influence 
of  the  rain.  In  digging,  the  greatest  care  must  be  used 
not  to  go  so  deep  as  to  touch  the  roots ;  for,  to  remove  the 
soil  from  the  fibrous  roots,  would  be  equal  to  a  destruction 
of  the  whole  crop.  In  vineyards  covered  with  debris  of 
rocks,  no  digging  can  take  place,  except  in  the  spring, 
when  the  vineyard  is  cither  manured  or  only  stirred. 
Very  frequently  the  vines  are  manured  in  the  spring,  in 


THE    Gil  APE   VINE. 


69 


order  to  make  use  of  the  manure  collected  during  the 
winter.  It  would  be  better  to  manure  in  the  fall,  and  to 
preserve  the  winter  manure  in  heaps  for  the  following 
year.  But  at  present  manure  is  so  scarce  that  such  a 
course  cannot  be  thought  of.  To  pay  people  for  digging, 
is  an  expense  which  does  not  enrich  the  soil.  In  a  rational 
culture  of  the  soil  this  expense  will  be  reduced  to  that 
which  is  unavoidably  necessary ;  the  money  saved  in  this 
way  is  better  employed  in  buying  fertilizing  materials  for 
improving  the  soil. 

In  some  books,  nice  distinctions  are  made  in  regard  to 
different  kinds  of  manures,  such  as  hen,  sheep,  hog,  pigeon, 
and  other  manures.  Of  one  it  is  said,  that  it  is  too  dry, 
another,  again,  too  moist.  All  such  distinctions  amount  to 
nothing  and  are  meaningless.  If  the  manures  are  "  Japan- 
ized"  before  their  application,  they  are  all  equally  good, 
because  all  animals  live  on  the  same  constituents  of  the 
plants. 

THE    AGE    OF    THE    VINEYARD. 

In  our  climates  the  age  of  the  vineyard  is,  as  a  rule, 
twenty-five  or  thirty,  and  in  some  localities  fifteen  or 
twenty  years ;  then  the  vines  commence  to  be  unproduc- 
tive, and  a  new  plantation  causes  a  loss  of  four  or  five 
years.  Bronner  describes,  as  early  as  twenty-six  years 
ago,  in  his  work  "  Viticulture  on  the  Rhine,"  No.  3,  p.  33, 
this  gradual  failing  of  the  vine.  He  says :  "  The  vines  pro- 
duce but  a  few  grapes ;  although  they  bloom  like  other 
vigorous  ones,  yet  they  have  not  power  to  make  fine  wood ; 
they  turn  yellow  and  sickly,  and  look  at  last  as  if  their 
pith  had  been  killed  by  frost.  Many  vineyards  of  this 
kind,  especially  towards  Mentz,  (he  speaks  of  the  vine- 
yards at  Hochheim,)  on  the  westerly  side  of  the  place, 
show  such  a  sickly  weakness;  no  stimulant  nor  any  ma- 
nure can  restore  them  to  their  former  vigor.    Such  enfeeb- 


70  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

led  vines  may  be  considered  as  a  cancer  in  the  household ; 
they  arc  a  dead  capital,  the  interest  from  which,  the  ex- 
pected crops,  the  owner  loses,  and  on  which  he  bestows 
besides,  annually,  unprofitable  labor.  Is  not,"  Bronner  con- 
tinues, "  this  short  life  to  be  ascribed  to  the  fact  that  the 
soil  has  been  used  during  many  centuries  for  the  same  pur- 
pose, so  that  it  is  now  exhausted '?"  But  what  has  been  ab- 
stracted from  it  ?  Hcerter  thinks,  that  there  is  a  want  of 
humus,  (vegetable  mould,  muck,)  which  is,  according  to 
him,  the  soul  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  If  such  soil  is 
leeched  out,  and  the  liquid  is  a  colorless  fluid,  then  it  is 
exhausted  and  unproductive.  But  Bronner  observes  cor- 
rectly that  the  vines  do  not  grow  better  after  an  applica- 
tion of  humus,  and  that  they  thrive  luxuriantly  on  the 
other  hand  in. pure  argillaceous  marl,  which  does  not  con- 
tain the  slightest  trace  of  humus.  w  For,"  he  says,  "  it  is 
an  established  fact  that  vines  grow  best  in  soil  on  which 
vines  have  never  before  grown,  in  a  virgin  soil,  never 
worked  before;  in  such  soil  they  reach  also  a  greater  age." 

"  I,"  says  Bronner,  "  have  endeavored  to  investigate  the 
matter  in  the  vineyards ;  I  have  called  natural  philosophy 
and  chemistry  to  my  assistance ;  I  have  conversed  about  it 
with  scientific  men ;  but  no  explanation  is  satisfactory  to 
me  as  yet  without  resorting  to  hypothetical  phrases." 

This  excellent  man  felt,  twenty-six  years  ago,  that  all 
explanations  then  in  vogue  were  unsatisfactory,  and  yet, 
on  the  following  page,  he  seems  inclined  to  assent  to  the 
view  that  the  roots  of  the  plants  excrete  matter  injurious 
to  their  own  growth.  What  are  the  present  teachings  of 
science  in  this  respect  ?  We  know  that  no  stimulants  ex- 
ist for  plants,  but  only  nourishment.  We  know  that  the 
plants  do  not  excrete  anything  injurious  to  themselves, 
that  cannot  be  changed  again  into  carbonic  acid  by  rot- 
tin--.  We  know  that  the  whole  doctrine  of  humus  is 
nothing  but  error  and  deception.  The  only  cause  of  the 
premature  death  of  the  vines,  which  is  true  and  perfectly 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  71 

sufficient,  lies  in  the  exhaustion  of  the  soil  of  mineral  con- 
stituents, and  in  too  short  pruning.  The  reasons  given 
by  Bronner  prove  this.  The  soil  may  be  rendered  incapa- 
ble of  producing  vines  as  of  producing  clover.  After  a 
few  years  the  roots  of  the  vine  penetrate  the  soil  so  deep 
that  the  manure  cannot  reach  them,  because  it  moves 
slowly  and  with  difficulty  in  the  soil.  So  their  nourish- 
ment can  only  be  taken  from  the  mineral  constituents  in 
their  immediate  vicinity.  By  close  pruning  we  prevent 
roots  from  going  deeper  in  quest  of  food  stored  up  there. 
There  exists  a  mutual  action  between  the  formation  of 
leaves  and  wood.  The  wood  fibres,  originating  from  car- 
bonic acid,  cannot  be  formed  except  by  the  excretion  of 
oxygen  at  the  surface  of  the  leaves.  The  greatest  quan- 
tity of  wood  fibre  is  formed  if  the  vine  is  not  pruned  at 
all,  but  suffered  to  grow  at  will;  in  the  same  proportion, 
also,  the  root  grows,  provided  thai  there  is  a  sufficiency  of 
mineral  constituents.  Under  this  condition,  even  the 
greatest  quantity  of  sugar  is  formed,  but  its  percentage 
in  the  single  cluster  does  not  satisfy  us.  We  diminish,  by 
pruning,  the  formation  of  the  absolute  amount  of  sugar, 
in  order  to  raise  its  percentage  in  the  few  grapes  left.  In 
this  way  we  diminish  the  formation  of  wood  and  roots, 
and  to  obtain  a  very  few  sweet- clusters,  we  cripple  the  vine 
by  pruning,  prevent  the  root  from  going  deep,  and  so  lay 
the  foundation  of  its  premature  decay.  The  vine  can 
reach  the  age  of  800  years,  yet  we  see  it  die  of  old  age 
under  our  treatment  after  the  short  life  of  twenty-five 
years.  To  dig  deep,  or  trench,  is  only  effective  a  few 
times,  i.  e.,  as  long  as  the  lower  strata  of  the  soil  not  yet 
exhausted  can  be  dug  out  and  mixed  with  the  others.  But 
the  period  of  the  life  of  the  new  vine  planted  in  the  place 
is  successively  abridged  in  each  of  the  following  attempts, 
and  ends  necessarily  by  the  relinquishment  of  the  land  if 
the  mineral  ingredients  taken  from  below  are  not  restored 
again  below.     Manuring  is  useful  for  an  indefinite  period 


72  THE   GRAPE    VINE. 

if  only  plants,  the  roots  of  which  spread  near  the  surface, 
are  cultivated.  That  is  the  reason  why  mowing  land, 
and  a  wheat  field  may  be  kept  constantly  productive,  but 
not  a  field  sown  to  Lucerne,  a  vineyard,  or  a  forest.  Expe- 
rience has  proved  abundantly  that  the  field  of  Lucerne, 
when  giving  out,  cannot  be  restored,  even  by  manuring  it 
most  abundantly. 

The  mineral  constituents  of  the  plants  are  contained  in 
the  soil  in  an  insoluble  form,  or  they  are  changed  to  such 
a  form  by  combining  with  other  constituents  of  the  soil, 
if  they  are  mixed  with  it  in  a  solution.  For  instance, 
sulphate  of  potash  cannot  filter  through  the  soil  when  dis- 
solved in  water,  nor  can  phosphate  of  lime,  when  dissolved 
by  carbonic  acid ;  they  remain  in  the  uppermost  stratum, 
and  nearly  pure  water  filters  through.  If  the  humus  does 
contain  minerals,  it  is  excellent,  but  without  them,  not  worth 
a  farthing.  Nothing  grows  in  peat,  nothing  in  brown  coal, 
both  being  nearly  pure  humus,  except  they  make  ashes 
containing  potash,  which  is  hardly  ever  the  case.  All  this 
leads  us  necessarily  to  the  fundamental  truth  already 
stated  in  the  above,  that  viticulture  can,  in  the  future, 
only  be  based  on  manuring  with  minerals,  and  that  with- 
out them  it  will  disappear  in  the  course  of  time,  as  has 
already  been  the  case  in  the  plains  of  middle  Germany 
and  in  the  Rhine  country,  if  it  cannot  be  carried  on  by 
manuring  with  minerals.  But  how  can  this  be  effected  ? 
Science  will  assist  also  in  that,  because  she  alone  can  give 
aid.  Road-dust  from  granite,  syenite,  phorphyry,  etc.,  will, 
as  has  been  already  mentioned,  be  exported  as  an  article  of 
trade  and  conveyed  by  the  railroads,  which  diminish  so 
much  the  formation  of  road-dust.  The  few  roads  yet  used 
for  carts  and  carriages,  will  be  considered  as  the  mills 
which  pulverize  the  rocks  without  extra  labor.  Pure  feld- 
spar will  be  very  much  preferred ;  from  the  proceeds  from 
the  sale  of  the  dust  the  roads  can  be  kept  in  good  order, 
still  leaving  a  margin  of  profit.     If  the  percentage  of  pot- 


THE    GRAPE   VINE.  73 

ash  is  the  same  in  different  rocks,  the  softest  will  be  pre- 
ferred ;  different  granites  will  be  analyzed,  in  order  to  find 
such  as  contain  the  greatest  percentage  of  potash.  Per- 
haps granite  will  be  heated,  thrown  into  cold  water,  and 
pulverized  in  mills,  to  take  from  nature  by  force  what  she 
is  taking  from  us  daily  through  the  plants.  Enormous 
quantities  of  potash  are  contained  in  the  ocean.  In  South- 
ern France,  thousands  of  tons  of  potash  salts  are  sent  to 
the  markets ;  they  are  obtained  from  the  lyes  of  the  salt 
yards.  The  water  of  the  ocean  contains  more  than  one 
thousandth  part  of  its  weight  of  chloride  of  potassium.  In 
the  water  of  the  Dead  Sea  is  contained  one  and  one-third  per 
cent,  of  chloride  of  potassium,  consequently  ten  times  more 
than  in  the  water  of  the  ocean.  The  trachytes  of  the  Eifel 
contain  four  and  one-half  per  cent. ;  the  phorphyry  of 
Kreuznach,  five  and  one-half  per  cent. ;  that  of  Freiburg 
seven  and  a  half  per  cent. ;  the  phronolite  of  Hohenkrsehen 
even  twenty-four  per  cent,  of  potash.  This  shows  that 
enormous  quantities  of  such  materials,  as  we  need  so  much 
for  growing  plants,  are  accumulated.  Science  will  find 
and  make  known  the  localities  where  they  are  to  be  found ; 
technical  art  will  find  the  means  of  making  them  available. 

THE    RISESTG    SAP    IX    THE    YINE. 

More  than  a  hundred  years  ago  an  English  clergyman, 
by  the  name  of  Stephen  Hales,  made  an  experiment  to 
measure  by  a  column  of  water  or  quicksilver  the  force  of 
the  rising  sap  in  the  vine.  I  am  not  in  possession  of  his 
original  work,  yet  the  experiment  is  mentioned  in  many 
books ;  but  I  do  not  find  that  anybody  has  ever  either  re- 
peated or  confirmed  the  experiment,  so  that  at  last,  on  ac- 
count of  the  length  of  time,  doubts  were  raised  whether 
it  were  so  Or  not.  Hales  inserted  the  cut  end  of  a  cane 
in  a  glass  tube,  bent  in  the  form  of  the  letter  S.  The 
sap  issuing  from  the  wound  rose  twenty-one  feet  high. 
4 


74 


THE    GEAPE    VINE. 


Hales  then  filled  the  tube  with  quicksilver,  which  rose  to 
a  height  of  thirty-two  inches.  Out  of  curiosity  I  repeated 
this  experiment  iu  the  year  1849,  and  found  that  the  results 
obtained  by  Hales  were  perfectly 
correct.  I  have  not  published  any- 
thing about  it,  but  I  think  this  a 
good  opportunity  to  communicate 
here,  verbatim,  the  results  as  noted 
down  in  my  memorandum  book. 

"  On  the  16th  of  April  I  repeated 
the  frequently  mentioned  experi- 
ment of  Hales  in  regard  to  the  ris- 
ing of  the  sap  in  the  vine.  At  first 
I  arranged  glass  tubes  for  the  saj:> 
to  rise  in  them ;  but  I  had  to  give 
this  up  because  the  sap  filled  the 
glass  tubes  very  soon,  and  I  was 
prevented  by  the  wall  on  which  the 
vine  (Chasselas,)  grew,  from  mak- 
ing them  longer. 

"  Then  the  apparatus,  represented 
in  Fig.  12,  was  arranged.  It  con- 
sisted of  a  glass  bottle  closed  with 
a  cork,  which  was  tied  firmly  to  the 
glass,  so  that  it  could  not  be  forced 
out  nor  even  moved.  The  cork  was 
perforated  with  two  holes,  in  one  of 
which  a  small  glass  tube,  bent  at  a 
right  angle,  was  inserted;  in  the 
other,  a  glass  tube,  three  feet  long,  which  nearly  touched 
the  bottom.  The  cane  was  fresh  cut  and  connected  with 
the  small  glass  tube  by  means  of  an  India  rubber  tube, 
enlarged  to  receive  the  cane,  and  then  surrounded  by 
thick  strips  of  linen.  The  bottle  contained  quicksilver  an 
inch  deep  ;  the  remaining  space  was  filled  with  water, 
without  a  bubble  of  air. 


Fig.  12. 


THE    GRAPE   VINE.  75 

The  rising  took  place  in  the  following  manner : 
April  16,  A.  M.,  1849,    9  o'clock  45  min.,    1"— 
«  "  "  10        "       10     "        3"  10"' 

"  "  a  10         a        n0      a  4u  10;u 

a  a  a  ii  a        a  tyu 

a              a              a             21          **         30      "  7"     4'" 

a  a  a  -jo         a        a  ryu     g«c 

April  1G,  P.  M.,  1849,  12  "  43  "  8a    7'" 

a             a             a               2  "*  9  "  11" 

a             u             a               g  a  4.17  <c  jo" 

a  a  a  rv  a         a  io(( 

.  "  "  9        "       45     "      15— 

April  17,  A.  M.,  1849,  8       "       15     "      19"  3'" 
then  it  commenced  falling  again. 

According  to  the  spec.  gr.  of  the  quicksilver  of  13.57, 
the  height  of  nineteen  and  a  quarter  inches  of  the  quick- 
silver is  equal  to  a  pressure  of.  water  of  26.12.  The  quick- 
silver did  not,  in  my  experiment,  rise  so  high  as  in  Hales', 
but  high  enough  to  confirm  the  facts.  This  phenomenon 
remains  yet  unexplained.  Neither  the  law  of  capillary  at- 
traction nor  endosmosis  furnish  the  least  means  of  expla- 
nation, although  both  have  so  frequently  been  resorted  to. 
The  cause  of  the  sap  rising  seems  to  lie  in  the  whole 
length  of  the  cane.  The  fact  that  the  uppermost  eyes 
push  always  most  vigorously,  agrees  with  it. 

The  liquid  is,  according  to  my  researches,  very  weak  in 
constituents.  One  litre  gave  only  2.43  grammes  of  dry 
matter,  or  0.243  per  cent. ;  this,  reduced  to  ashes,  weighed 
only  0.65  grammes,  or  0.065  per  cent,  ingredients  of  the 
ashes.  The  ashes  showed  a  very  feeble  alkaline  reaction. 
It  contained  lime,  and  I  could  trace  a  little  phosphoric  acid 
by  molybdanic  acid.  The  liquid,  mixed  wTith  sugar,  does 
not  ferment.  It  contains,  therefore,  no  albuminous  mat- 
ter, and  remains  perfectly  clear  by  boiling.  The  loss  of 
matter,  therefore,  which  the  vine  sustains  by  bleeding,  is 
of  very  little  account,  except  we  consider  it  unnatural 


76  THE    GRAPE   VIXE. 

that  the  vine  should  indulge  in  the  satisfaction  of  its  ten- 
dency to  raise  the  sap  so  high.  It  is  a  ridiculous  supersti- 
tion that  this  liquid  serves  a  good  purpose  as  an  eye  water. 

THE    GRAPE    DISEASE. 

In  the  year  1845,  a  fungus  originated  at  Margate,  in 
England,  in  a  vinery  for  forcing  grapes.  It  is  related  that 
it  escaped  through  a  broken  window  light,  and  commenced 
its  destructive  travel  over  Europe  and  the  adjoining  parts 
of  the  world.  It  attacks  unripe  berries,  covering  them 
with  a  coat  resembling  flour;  its  roots  penetrate  the  skin 
of  the  berry,  destroys  thereby  its  structure,  so  that  it  can- 
not grow  anymore.  As  the  sap  continues  flowing  to  it,  it 
cracks  from  want  of  expansibility,  dries  up,  and  decays. 
It  creeps  on  the  berry  along  the  peduncle  to  the  shoots 
and  leaves,  covering  the  whole  vine  with  a  white  film,  ex- 
cept the  Woody  parts  of  it.  Single  spores,  carried  by  wind 
or  insects  to  distant  points,  create  a  new  source  of  infec- 
tion from  which  it  spreads  again  by  creeping,  so  that, 
by  these  two  ways  of  dissemination,  in  a  short  time,  the 
largest  trellises  of  vines  are  destroyed.  The  fungus  in 
question  belongs  to  the  genus  of  the  O'ldiums,  resembling 
egg-shaped  pearls,  as  transparent  as  glass,  which  are,  as  it 
were,  strung  on  a  thread ;  when  they  are  detached  and 
separated,  they  sprout  and  make  roots.  Of  these  Oidiums 
many  species  were  known  long  ago,  but  they  were  of  no 
importance  compared  with  that  in  question,  because  they 
appeared  only  now  and  then,  attacking  only  wild  plants 
of  no  value.  The  grape  fungus,  however,  spreads  so 
rapidly,  and  the  plant  attacked  by  it  is  of  so  great  im- 
portance, that  it  attracted  general  attention.  The  question 
might  be  asked  here  why  this  fungus  was  not  observed 
earlier.  We  cannot  answer  it  from  history.  We  know, 
however,  from  the  recent  investigations  of  Darwin  and 
others,  that  the  species  of  plants  and  animals  are  not  con- 
stant; they  are  subject  to  continual  changes  caused  by  ex- 


THE    GRAPE   VINE.  W 

ternal  conditions  and  circumstances.  Although,  not  a  sin- 
gle case  of  generatio  spontanea  s.  equivoca,  (immediate 
creation  within  the  historical  period,)  has  been  established 
or  proved,  yet  we  recognize  the  fact  that  beings,  already 
in  existence,  may  be  very  much  changed  by  external  con- 
ditions, especially  those  lowest  organisms  with  their  sim- 
ple organs.  The  nature  of  the  O'idiums  is  changed  by  the 
nature  of  the  body  on  which  they  lead  their  parasitic 
life.  The  year  1862  was  very  productive  of  different  kinds 
of  O'idiums.  I  observed  in  my  garden  that  not  only  the 
grapes,  but  roses,  Thlaspi  Bursa-Pastoris,  Bignonia, 
Catalpa,  cucumbers,  squashes,  Zamium  album,  peas,  and 
many  other  plants  were  attacked.  Under  the  microscope 
they  were  so  similar  in  form,  that  they  all  might  have 
been  regarded  as  the  same.  It  is  true,  they  showed  little 
differences  in  the  form,  yet  they  did  not  necessarily  estab- 
lish a  difference  of  the  species ;  it  is  very  probable  that 
the  same  spore  has  a  different  development  on  the  leaves 
of  the  cucumber,  or  Bignonia,  from  that  which  it  would 
have  on  the  tender  leaves  of  the  pea.  In  this  way,  the 
spore  of  an  O'idium,  grown  on  another  plant,  may  have 
settled  on  the  berry  of  a  grape  vine  in  a  warm,  moist  glass 
house,  and  its  nature  may  have  been  changed  so  much, 
that  it  was  now  especially  fit  to  grow  on  grapes.  Conse- 
quently, it  is  not  in  the  least  remarkable  that  the  grape 
disease  has  not  made  its  appearance  earlier,  but  only  after 
a  new  species  had  been  called  into  existence  by  favorable 
circumstances,  a  species  especially  fit  to  live  on  the  juice 
of  unripe  grapes.  So  the  disease  came  into  existence  and 
lias  not  as  yet  disappeared.  There  is  reason  to  believe 
tjjat  the  spores  of  the  O'idium  may  remain  dormant  during 
the  winter,  on  the  infected  canes  and  buds.  This  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  the  disease  re-appears  regularly  in 
southern  countries,  and  that  its  recurrence  in  northern, 
colder  countries,  is  irregular  and  sporadic.  With  us,  the 
disease  seems  to  be  destroyed  by  a  severe  winter;    for 


it 


THE    GEAPE   VINE. 


many  cases  arc  known  in  which  it  did  not  re-appear  in  lo- 
calities where  it  was  very  prevalent  the  year  before.  In 
countries  enjoying  mild  winters,  like  Madeira,  Tyrol,  and 
Italy,  its  re-appearance  may  be  predicted  almost  to  a  day. 
There  is  also  a  difference  in  regard  to  its  appearance.  In 
the  South,  it  is  frequently  observed  before  the  time  of  blos- 
soming ;  with  us,  not  until  the  berries  have  attained  the  size 
of  small  peas.  The  warm  months  of  April  and  May,  in 
1862,  developed  the  spores  so  early  that  the  disease  had 
already  spread  to  a  great  extent  in  the  beginning  of  July. 

At  the  first  appearance  of  this  O'idium,  which  was  called 
by  Berkeley  Oidium  Tvc7ceri,  those  whose  vineyards 
were  affected  by  it,  were  driven  to  despair.  The  descrip- 
tion of  it  given  by  Mr.  de  Comini,  the  owner  of  a  farm 
at  Botzen,  is  really  awful.  Year  after  year  the  whole  crop 
was  lost,  families  sank  into  poverty,  and  emigration  and 
seizure  of  their  property  followed. 

The  results  of  the  experiments  to  counteract  this  calam- 
ity, were  slow,  and  centered  in  the  view  entertained  that 
jmlverized  sulphur,  sprinkled  over  the  vines,  was  a  never 
failing  specific.  At  first,  the  operation  was  performed  in 
a  defensive  way ;  only  the  clusters  attacked  by  the  fun- 
gus, were  sprinkled.  Afterwards  it  was  thought  better  to 
use  the  sulphur  as  a  preventive;  the  whole  vine  was 
sprinkled  with  sulphur  to  prevent  the  disease.  At  last, 
experience  established  the  fact,  that  it  is  necessary  to  ap- 
ply the  sulphur  four  or  five  times,  to  kill  the  sj^ores,  and  to 
prevent  the  disease  from  spreading. 

In  the  beginning  of  July,  in  1862,  I  noticed  for  the  first 
time  on  a  trellis  a  spot  affected  with  the  disease ;  it  had 
never  appeared  before  in  the  same  garden.  At  that  time 
my  garden  contained  several  thousand  feet  of  trellis ;  I 
saw  at  once  the  difficulty,  amounting  almost  to  an  impos- 
sibility of  staying  the  disease  by  sprinkling  the  leaves  and 
bunches,  for  some  of  the  trellises  were  from  sixteen  to 
twenty  feet  high,  and  not  accessible  without  the  use  of  a 


THE   GRAPE   VINE.  79 

ladder.  Thinking  over  all  the  experiments  made  to  com- 
bat the  evil,  I  saw  that  they  were  mostly  only  prophylac- 
tic, (preventive.)  I  concluded,  therefore,  to  proceed  at 
once  in  a  defensive  way,  and  to  destroy  the  spores  as  soon 
as  they  originated.  The  result  showed  that  this  was  much 
easier  than  it  seemed  to  be  at  first.  The  diseased  spot  was 
thoroughly  cleansed ;  all  bunches  seized  with  the  disease, 
beyond  the  possibility  of  curing  them,  were  broken  off, 
and  the  leaves  and  branches  severely  beaten  with  towels 
and  brushwood.  • 

Then  the  diseased  spot  with  its  surroundings  was  very 
frequently  examined,  and  all  new  attacks  of  the  disease 
instantly  annihilated.  This  was  effected  in  the  following 
manner :  I  carried  a  deep  box  filled  with  flowers  of  sul- 
phur, around  the  neck,  by  means  of  a  cord,  so  that  I  had  it 
before  me,  in  which  a  common  hair  brush,  an  inch  thick, 
was  kept.  In  examining  the  clusters,  great  facility  of  recog- 
nizing the  disease  is  very  soon  acquired,  so  that  there  is  not 
the  least  doubt  about  it.  Especially  the  small  berries  which 
are  not  developed,  because  they  are  not  fertilized,  are  seized 
when  they  are  not  larger  than  a  pin's  head.  These  appear 
as  if  powdered  white,  while  everything  else  around  them 
is  in  order  yet.  Where  there  is  such  a  berry,  there  is  gen- 
erally, also,  a  small  empty  space  by  which  the  infection  is 
retarded.  Such  a  cluster  is  then  taken  in  the  hollow  of  the 
left  hand,  then  brushed  powerfully  with  the  brush,  not 
charged  with  sulphur,  and  then  dusted  over  by  means  of 
the  same  brush  with  sulphur.  A  spot,  so  treated,  is  always 
saved.  The  sooner  the  examination  of  the  vines  com- 
mences, the  easier  it  is  to  accomplish  the  purpose.  Often- 
times many  days  elapse  before  a  new  infection  takes  place. 
In  a  large  garden,  of  three  acres  area,  with  vines  planted 
everywhere,  it  required  but  an  hour  every  day  to  arrest 
the  evil. 

Sometimes  I  found  twenty  spots  affected,  sometimes  but 
one,  and  had  the  disease  not  already  spread  so  much  be- 


80  THE   GRAPE   TINE. 

fore  I  noticed  it,  the  task  would  have  been  still  easier. 
The  disease  ahoays  attacks  the  bunches  first,  and  only  ap- 
pears on  the  leaves  and  branches  later  y  if  it  is  destroyed 
on  the  berries  it  does  not  reach  the  leaves.  When  the 
bunches  begin  to  ripen,  they  are  in  less  danger  than  the 
leaves  and  green  shoots.  The  bunches  so  treated  ripened 
perfectly  on  vines,  of  which  every  leaf  was  affected. 

The  protection  is,  therefore,  to  be  confined  to  the  clus- 
ters, as  it  is  impossible  to  treat  leaves  and  shoots  in  a  like 
manner.  In  a  cluster  saved,  the#>bject  of  the  labor  is  be- 
fore us  ;  it  is  not  so  near  and  immediate  in  the  leaves  and 
shoots,  the  number  of  which  is  much  larger.  The  offen- 
sive (prophylactic)  treatment  causes  under  all  circum- 
stances the  same  amount  of  labor,  the  defensive  only  in 
proportion  to  what  is  really  saved. 

The  first  traces  of  the  disease  appear,  as  stated,  always 
on  the  unripe  cluster.  The  disease  does  not  spread,  nor 
do  the  leaves  or  the  on-een  shoots  suffer  when  the  fundus  is 
destroyed  there. 

There  is  no  place  for  the  spores  of  the  O'idium,  but  on 
the  green  shoots,  which  will  be  canes  in  the  fall  by  chang- 
ing their  green  color  into  brown.  This  fact  was  proven 
by  the  experiments  of  Mr.  de  Comini.  In  November, 
he  cut  off  infected  canes,  which  was  evident  from  the 
dark  spots  on  them,  and  kept  them  in  a  warm  room,  in 
pots,  having  horse-manure  and  sods  at  the  bottom.  After 
the  lapse  of  seven  weeks,  the  fungus  appeared  on  those 
dark  spots,  covering,  in  a  short  time,  the  whole  cane.  It 
is  therefore  very  important  to  watch  the  vines  carefully 
in  the  spring  in  order  to  destroy  the  fungus  as  soon  as  it 
makes  its  appearance ;  this  will  very  much  diminish  its 
spreading. 

[From  the  above  statement  and  description  of  Dr.  Mohr, 
it  is  evident  that  the  O'idium  as  prevalent  in  Europe  is 
either  different  from  that  which  attacks  the  American  va 


THE    GRAPE   VINE.  81 

rieties,  or  modified  and  changed,  to  a  certain  degree,  by 
atmospheric  influences.  The  grape  vine  disease,  at  least 
here,  at  the  East,  always  attacks  the  leaves  first,  and  the 
clusters  only  later,  if  they  are  attacked  at  all.  It  is  well 
known  that  Dr.  Engelmann,  of  St.  Louis,  and  other  nat- 
uralists of  this  country,  consider  the  European  and  Amer- 
ican O'idium  as  two  different  species,  and  maintain,  besides, 
that  there  is  a  second  species  also  in  America.  Be  this  as 
it  may,  it  is  an  established  fact  that  flowers  of  sulphur  is 
a  specific  against  the  disease  prevalent  in  America  as  well 
as  that  in  Europe.  To  destroy  the  spores  in  the  spring 
before  the  buds  swell,  it  is  beneficial  to  sprinkle  them 
thoroughly  by  means  of  a  garden  syringe,  with  the  follow- 
ing mixture,  recommended  by  Mr.  Neubert,  of  Leipsic,  the 
scientific  vine  grower. 

Eight  and  a  half  ounces  of  common  salt,  and  four  ounces 
of  saltpetre  must  be  dissolved  in  36  ounces  of  water ;  add 
to  the  solution,  10  drops  of  oil  of  Rosemary,  and  10  drops 
of  oil  of  Lavender.  Take  one  part  of  the  solution  and  use 
it  with  100  or  120  parts  of  water.  It  must  be  vigorously 
stirred  before  using  it,  on  account  of  the  essential  oils 
which  otherwise  would  easily  separate  from  it. 

The  trellises,  posts  and  walls,  must  also  be  thoroughly 
sprinkled  as  well  as  the  vines.  As  soon  as  the  leaves  ex- 
pand they  must  be  dusted  all  over  with  flowers  of  sul- 
phur, then  again  when  they  blossom,  a  third  time  when 
the  berries  are  as  large  as  peas,  and  lastly,  when  they  be- 
gin to  color.  This,  of  course,  is  a  prophylactic  treatment ; 
but  as  the  berries  are  attacked  later  than  the  leaves,  if  at 
all,  it  can  not  be  otherwise.  The  effect  of  the  sulphuration 
is  very  powerful.  Flowers  of  sulphur  also  keep  the  thrips 
in  check,  an  enemy  of  the  grape  vine  that  grows  every- 
day more  formidable. 

The  vines  may  be  dusted  by  means  of  a  brush  ;  yet  it 
is  difficult  by  means  of  it  to  dust  the  underside  of  the 
leaves. 


82 


THE    GEATE    VINE. 


The  bellows  invented  in  France,  by  Mr.  De  La  Vergoe, 

(figure  13,)  is  the  most  convenient  instrument  for  dusting 
all  parts  of  the  vine  thoroughly,  especially  the  under- 
side of  the  leaves.     Several  years  ago  I  imported  a  number 


Fig.  13. 

of  them  from  France,  at  great  expense  and  loss,  for  pat- 
terns to  have  them  manufactured  here.  They  can  be  ob- 
tained from  the  Messrs.  Woodward,  editors  of  the  Horti- 
culturist, who  have  them  always  on  hand. 

There  is  another  instrument,  called,  in  Germany,  the 
"  Grape-vine  Torch."  It  consists  of  a  conical  duster  made 
of  tin,  the  bottom  of  which  is  perforated  with  a  great  num- 
ber of  small  holes.  Sometimes  the  holes  are  made  larger, 
so  that  pieces  of  woolen  yarn  (worsted)  can  be  passed 
through  them,  leaving  space  enough  for  the  sulphur  to  be 
shaken  through,  and  to  spread  even- 
ly by  the  jrieces  of  woolen  yarn 
which  project  several  inches  from 
the  bottom.  Such  a  duster  must 
be  about  eight  or  ten  inches  long, 
and  at  the  bottom  about  four  inches 
or  four  and  a  half  in  diameter. 
There  must,  of  course,  be  a  cover 
to  it  to  prevent  the  sulphur  from 

falling  out.      Figure  14  illustrates 
Fig.  14.  a  .•,•-, 

the  grape  vine  torch,  with  a  por- 
tion of  the  side  removed  to  show  the  interior  arrangement. 
This  instrument  has  the  same  disadvantage  as  a  brush, 
because  the  underside  of  the  leaves  can  only  with  difficul- 
ty be  dusted  over  by  means  of  it. 


THE    GRAPE   VIXE.  83 

The  sulpkuration  ought  to  be  performed  in  the  middle 
of  the  day  when  the  sun  shines  ;  should  a  sudden  rain 
wash  the  sulphur  off,  it  must  immediately  "be  repeated  as 
soon  as  the  weather  becomes  dry. 

It  would  be  useless  to  meution  here  other  remedies  for 
destroying  that  terrible  disease;  for  instance,  three  parts 
of  coal  tar  mixed  with  ninety-seven  parts  of  sand  or  dry 
soil.  Some  of  this  compound  laid  about  the  vines  is  said 
to  prevent  the  disease  ;  but  sulphur,  if  properly  applied, 
never  fails  to  prevent  or  destroy  it. — Translator. ~\ 

TREATMENT  OF    VINES  INJURED   BY  FROST. 

In  our  northern  climates,  the  wood  of  the  vine  suffers 
during  winters  that  are  very  cold.  No  buds  push  in  the 
spring,  and  the  wood  dries  up  in  the  course  of  the  summer. 
It  is  true  it  does  not  happen  frequently,  yet  it  happens 
sometimes.  To  prevent  this,  the  vines  pruned  in  the  fall 
are  covered  with  soil.  This  is  the  rule  in  the  east  of  Ger- 
many ;  in  the  west,  on  the  Rhine,  it  is  not  customary,  be- 
cause truly  dangerous  winters  are  of  too  rare  occurrence  to 
warrant  the  same  laborious  work  annually. 

Vines  injured  by  frost  are,  in  this  region,  cut  off  just 
above  ground ;  but  this  operation  is  injurious  and  faulty 
in  the  highest  degree.  The  roots  not  having  suffered  from 
frost  send  up  in  the  spring  an  abundance  of  sap,  which 
flows  out  of  the  large  wound.  This  flow  of  the  sap  con- 
tinues not  unfrequently  for  a  month,  and  consequently  the 
young  shoots  are  lessened  and  retarded.  These  young 
shoots  cannot  ripen  their  wood  in  the  course  of  the  sum 
mer,  so  that  in  the  following  winter  they  suffer  again  from 
the  frost.  The  treatment  of  a  vine  injured  by  frost  must 
therefore  be  entirely  changed  from  this.  The  injured  vines 
must  not  be  pruned  at  all,  in  order  to  prevent  the  rising 
sap  from  getting  wasted ;  they  must  be  permitted  to  push 
just  as  they  are.     In  this  case  the  number  of  the  pushing 


84  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

eyes  is  as  large  as  possible,  no  sap  being  lost  by  flowing 
out. 

This  causes  the  shoots  to  grow  vigorously ;  they  can 
mature  their  wood  in  the  summer  and  bear  fruit  the  next 
year;  in  the  third  year  all  that  has  been  lost  by  frost  may 
have  been  replaced  by  a  new  growth,  and  the  vine  may 
have  attained  its  former  size.  In  this  way  only  one  crop 
is  lost. 

If  the  vine  was  primed  in  the  fall,  nothing  is  cut  off  after 
the  frost  in  the  spring  ;  the  young  shoots,  which  appear 
in  large  numbers,  must  be  suffered  to  grow  until  they  are 
four  or  five  feet  long.  Then  the  weakest  of  them  are  re- 
moved, without  injuring  the  strong  ones,  in  order  to  make 
them  grow  more  vigorously.  Pinching  the  laterals  must 
be  entirely  omitted  until  at  pruning  in  the  fall.  The  eyes 
of  the  young  shoots  may  all,  in  the  course  of  the  summer, 
be  sufficiently  well  developed  for  produciug  blossoms,  be- 
cause no  sap  in  this  case  is  used  for  nourishing  fruit.  The 
pruning  in  the  fall  must  be  very  moderate,  and  confined  to 
the  removal  of  the  laterals. 

The  vine  does  not  suffer  from  covering  it  with  soil ;  it 
is  not  even  injured  by  inundation.  A  small  vineyard  ad- 
joining my  farm  is  almost  every  year  flooded  by  the 
Moselle,  during  ten  or  fourteen  days ;  it  has  never  suffered 
from  it,  and  seems  to  do  better  than  others.  There  are 
vineyards  on  the  Rhine,  between  Coblenz  and  Bingen, 
which  are  flooded  nearly  every  year,  without  suffering  in 
the  least.  The  vine  may  suffer  in  the  spring  from  late 
frosts  coming  after  leaves  and  blossoms  have  appeared. 
The  warmer  the  spring,  and  the  more  advanced  the  shoots, 
the  greater  is  the  clanger.  In  this  respect  the  cold  days, 
from  the  twelfth  to  the  fourteenth  of  May,  are  well  known 
and  dreaded;  they  are  generally  called  the  cold  saints, 
Pancratius,  Servativs  and  JBonifacius.  It  is  a  well  estab- 
lished fiict,  corroborated  by  many  years'  experience,  that 
at  that  time  a  cold  storm  from  the  north  visits  the  middle 


THE    GEAPE   VINE.  85 

of  Europe,  often  destroying  in  a  single  night  the  hopes  of 
a  whole  year.  The  cause  of  the  phenomenon  is  as  yet  un- 
known. It  is  not  always  coincident  with  the  days  men- 
tioned ;  for  it  may  come  one  or  two  weeks  earlier,  or  a 
few  days  later.  In  our  region  this  storm  was  in  a  certain 
year  experienced  on  the  21st  day  of  April;  in  another 
(1854),  on  the  24th  of  April,  not  injuring  the  yet  unde- 
veloped shoots  of  the  vine,  while  the  plums  and  pears 
then  in  blossom  suffered  severely.  Nothing  has  been  pro- 
posed or  attempted  against  such  cold  storms  except  filling 
the  air  with  smoke  from  slowly  burning  brushwood,  sods 
and  moist  straw.  Smoke  makes  the  air  less  transparent, 
and  so  prevents  the  warmth  from  radiating.  Although 
the  prospects  for  the  crop  of  a  whole  year  are  at  stake, 
and,  in  consequence  of  it,  the  vintner's  means  of 
living,  yet  smoking  is  rarely,  and  nowhere  regularly, 
resorted  to.  The  danger  is  greatest  about  an  hour  and 
a  half  or  two  hours  before  sunrise;  but  at  that  time 
man  is  overpowered  by  sleep.  The  difficulty  of  leav- 
ing the  bed  and  remaining  in  the  open  air  during  a  long 
cold  night  will  always  be  in  the  way  of  its  practice,  and 
will  be  the  cause  of  neglecting  to  save  the  vines  in  the  way 
mentioned.  Fatalism  is  a  convenient  belief;  it  permits 
one  to  remain  in  bed  while  it  is  freezing  hard.  Such  sys- 
tems have  always  many  followers. 

In  clear  nights,  a  broad  cold  current  of  air  descends 
slowly  from  the  summits  of  the  mountains ;  the  direction 
of  it  can  be  easily  ascertained  by  the  motion  of  the  smoke 
from  a  pipe  or  a  cigar.  Smoking  fires  should  therefore 
regularly  be  built,  just  above  the  vineyard,  on  the  highest 
spot  between  the  mountain  and  the  vineyard.  Should 
there  be  a  high  wind,  there  is  hardly  any  danger,  because 
it  surrounds  and  warms  again  the  parts  of  the  vine  cooled 
by  radiation.  If  there  is  no  wind  and  the  smoke  rises  in 
a  straight  column,  it  cannot  be  of  any  use.  To  observe 
all  these  things  in  a  dark  night,  is  not  an  easy  matter. 


8G 


THE    (J RAPE    VINE. 


Smoking  fires  will   long   remain  in  the  books,  where  they 
are  strongly  recommended,  before  they  will  be  resorted  to 

in  practical  life. 

i 

IMPLEMENTS. 

The  implements  absolutely  necessary  for  the  management 

of  the  vine  are,  first :  garden  shears,  and  secondly,  a  knife. 
Good  garden  shears  are  at  present  so  well  known  that  a 

description  of  them  would  be  useless. 

The  pruning  knife,  which  may  without  inconvenience  be 
carried  in  the  pocket,  was,  before  the  intro- 
duction of  correctly  made  shears,  the  only 
implement  of  the  gardener.  It  has  been  in 
a  great  measure  superseded  by  shears,  because 
nearly  all  the  work  may  be  done  with  those 
equally  well  and  with  greater  dispatch.  At 
present  the  pointed  form,  Figure  15,  is  alone 
recommended  in  horticultural  books,  while 
knives,  sharply  curved  at  their  ends,  such  as 
were  formerly  used,  are  not  thought  much  of. 
It  seems  to  me  that  there  is  no  good  cause 
for  overpraising  the  former  and  undervaluing 
the  latter.     The  pointed  knife  does  not  cut, 

except  the  blade  is  pressed  powerfully  against  the  branch. 
In  order  to  be  able  to  ;       r 

do  this,  the  knife  must 

be  grasped  as  shown  in 

Figure    16;     this,    how- 
ever,   requires    a    great 

strength    in    the    hand, 

when   the   cut   is  made 

with  the  point,  the  part 

of    the    knife    which   is 

thinnest  and  best  fitted 

for  cutting. 

If  the  knife  is  curved  at  the  point,  as  in  the  old  form. 


15. 


Fisr.  16. 


THE    GRAPE    VINE. 


87 


Fig.  17. 


the   greatest  resistance  is  in  a  direct  line  with  the  hand 
and  arm,  (fig.   17,)  and  the  cut  becomes  more  of  a  pull 
than  in  the  other  form,  in  which  it  is 
a  pressure  from  the  side. 

Yet    a   drawing   cut    is    the    most 
effective  of   all,  because  the  muscles 
of  the  upper  part  of  the  arm  come 
into  play.     In  using  the  knife  in  this 
way,  the  drawing  would  pull  it  out  of 
the  hand  if  this  were  not  counteracted 
by  a  strong  grasp.     The  exertion  made 
in  preventing  the  knife  from  slipping 
out  of  the  hand  is  a  real  waste,  be- 
cause it  does  not  co-operate  in  cutting. 
The  handle  must  therefore,  at  its  end, 
be  so  arranged,  by  an  upward  flat  bend, 
that  the  solid  part  of  the   hand  below  the  little  finger 
may  rest  upon  it.     When  the  hand  is  only  so  much  closed 
that  the  knife  may  not  fall  out,  the  drawing  of  the  arm 
accomplishes  the  cut  without  any  waste  of  power.     The 
cutting  with  such  a  knife  is  much  more 
effective,  and    may  be    continued    much 
longer  without  fatigue.     It  is  very  con- 
venient for  a  gardener  not  to  be  compel- 
led to  open  the  knife  every  time  he  needs 
it,  but  to  carry  it  open  in  a  case  in  the 
pocket,  as  sailors  are  accustomed  to  do. 
The   knife    is    still    more     convenient 
when  the  blade  is  bent  a  little  on  the 
back  towards  the  handle,  as  represented 
in  Figure  18.  - 

In  this  case  the  blade  is  not  movable,  and  the  kniie 
must  be  carried  in  a  case.  The  handle  is  made  of  two 
pieces  of  wood,  united  by  rivets  with  the  prolongation  of 
the  blade.  The  blade  need  only  be  half  as  long  as  that 
of  the  common  pruning  knives,  the  lower  part  of  which 


Fi<r.  IS. 


88  THE    GBAPX   VINE. 

is  never  used  for  cutting.  But  the  length  of  the  handle 
must  be  independent  of  the  length  of  the  blade ;  it  must 
correspond  to  the  size  of  the  hand  of  a  man ;  that  is,  it 
must  be  four  and  a  half  inches  (about  120  m.m.)  long,  and 
1  Rarlv  an  inch  (10  lines  or  32  m.m.)  thick. 

The  proportions  of  many  good  knives  in  the  market  are 
faulty,  the  handles  being  too  small,  and  the  blades  also 
small. 

The  size  of  the  blade  is  regulated  by  the  work  for  which 
it  is  intended ;  the  handle,  however,  must  fit  the  hand, 
which  is  always  the  same.  Frequently,  the  springs  are  too 
strong,  so  that  the  knife  cannot  be  opened  without  using 
great  power ;    it   is  sometimes  even  dangerous. 

In  the  shears,  the  axis  on  which  the  arms  move  is  fastened 
in  a  wrong  way,  so  that  the  screw  is  apt  to  get  loose  in 
using  them.  The  cause  for  this  wrong  construction  may  lie 
in  the  gardeners  themselves;  if  they  have  no  clear  insight 
into  the  matter,  they  cannot  give  good  advice  to  the 
manufacturers ;  consequently,  faulty  arrangements  continue 
to  be  handed  down  from  one  to  another.  Without  in- 
creasing the  labor  and  cost,  those  implements  might  be 
made  much  better.  * 

Even  many  horticultural  books  show  that  their  authors 
do  not  understand  the  advantages  of  shears  over  knives. 
They  concede  that  by  using  shears  the  work  is  done  with 
greater  dispatch,  yet  they  say  that  the  knife  is  better. 
The  reason  why  shears  deserve  to  be  preferred  to  the 
knife,  lies  in  the  fact  that  shears  carry,  aside  from  the  cut- 
ting  knife,  the  resistance  along  with  them,  so  that  the 
stress  upon  the  trellis  or  the  root  and  vine  below  the  cut 
is  easily  avoided.  Shears  have  not  only  a  knife,  but  also 
another  arm  towards  which  the  cutting  is  directed.  If  the 
shears  are  turned  a  little  in  cutting,  they  bruise  the  branch 
as  little  as  the  knife  ;  for  the  more  easily  the  cleft  opens 
for  the  cutting  blade,  the  less  pressure  is  exerted  on  the 
other  arm.     In  cutting  with    shears   it   does   not   matter 


THE    GRAPE   VINE. 


whether  we  cut  high  in  the  air,  or  low,  near  the  ground  ;  in 
using  the  knife  we  have  always  to  consider  in  what  direc- 
tion we  may  find  the  resistance  in  order  to  cut  in  that 
which  is  opposite  to  it. 

We  will  give  here  some  hints  for  cutters  in  regard  to 
the  best  arrangement  for  knives  and  shears. 

The  blades  of  garden  knives  of  the  modern 
pointed  form,  Figure  19,  ought  to  project  only 
two  inches  beyond  the  handle.  The  best  cast 
steel  should  be  used  for  them ;  they  ought  to  be 
tempered  yellow,  but  blue  near  the  handle.  The 
rivets,  on  which  the  blade  moves,  ought  to  be 
T22  thick,  made  of  steel  wire,  and  the  points 
rounded.  They  must  not  be  fastened  by 
riveting,  but  should  be  driven  into  the  handle 
under  a  strong  friction,  but  the  blade  must 
move  freely  and  easily.  All  blades  of  a  given 
\j\.        number  should  be  of  the  same  dimensions  ;  this 

„       '       enables  the   buyer  to    purchase    two    or    three 

Fisr.  19.  .  . 

blades  which  may  easily  be  exchanged  by  tak- 
ing out  the  rivet.  The  blade  should  not  have  a  projection 
at  the  end ;  it  ought  to  have  a  sharp  edge  its 
whole  length.  The  handle,  bein^  as  long  as 
the  hand  is  broad,  ought  to  be  bent  back- 
wards on  its  lower  extremity  for  the  hand  to 
rest  upon  it ;  a  little  projection  on  the  back, 
about  an  inch  below  the  rivet,  is  very  use- 
ful in  holding  the  knife  firmly ;  this  projec- 
tion will  go  in  between  the  fore  and  the 
middle  finger  of  the  right  hand. 

Curved  blades,  Figure  20,  need  not  be 
longer  than  1  inch  and  J  ;  their  sharp  edge 
must  extend  along  their  whole  length; 
otherwise  they  do  not  differ  from  straight 
knives.  The  springs  must  be  good,  but  not  too  strong ; 
the  wooden  handle  ought  to  be  painted  red,  to  enable  one 


90  THE    GRAPE   VINE. 

to  find  them  easily  when  lost,  as  the  common  brown  color 
of  the  handles  makes  it  difficult  to  see  them  on  the  ground. 
In  shears  the  pivot  is  fitted  in  a  square  hole  of  that 
arm  on  which  there  is  a  nut  with  a  screw  to  fasten  the  two 
arms  together.  Very  frequently  this  nut  gets  loose.  To 
avoid  this,  two  nuts  are  put  on  the  screw.  The  lowermost 
being  larger,  projects  considerably  from  the  uppermost. 
It  has  two  incisions  opposite  each  other,  to  receive  a  screw- 
driver, which  is  so  arranged  that  it  fits  them.  The  second 
nut,  the  so  called  ccunternut,  is  screwed  down  to  the  first, 
on  which  it  is  held  in  place  by  friction. 

PROPER  TIME  FOR  THE  WORK  TO  BE 
PERFORMED  ON  THE  VINE. 

We  have  already,  when  we  had  occasion,  pointed  out 
the  best  time  for  the  work  to  be  performed  on  the  vine 
and  given  the  reasors  for  it.  At  present  we  shall  explain 
the  matter  fully. 

The  priming  of  the  vine  ought  to  be  done  in  autumn, 
immediately  after  the  fall  of  the  leaf.  By  it,  the  vine  is 
reduced  to  smaller  dimensions,  it  is  easier  to  keep  it  in 
the  right  condition  during  the  winter,  and  the  wood  so 
removed  may  be  cut  up  and  mixed  with  the  manure.  Im- 
mediately after  pruning,  the  vine  ought  to  be  manured  in 
the  manner  described  above. 

When  the  vine  is  not  to  be  manured,  the  pieces  of  the 
canes  are  cut  up,  and  the  leaves  are  placed  where  they  will 
decay.  It  is  a  general  custom  to  go  over  the  vines  in  gardens 
and  vineyards  again  in  the  spring,  to  prune  a  little,  and  then 
to  tie  them  immediately.  This  procedure  is  altogether 
erroneous,  because  it  renders  regular  pinching  impossible ; 
that  is  the  reason  that  the  pinching  is  omitted  in  every 
vineyard.  It  is  advisable  to  perform  the  operation  of  the 
last  pruning,  the  pinching  and  tying  at  the  same  time ;  by 


THE    GKAPE  VINE.  91 

this  the  second  labor  is  saved.  For  this  purpose  nothing 
is  done  on  the  vine  in  the  spring,  until  the  time  of  the 
powerful  rising  of  the  sap  has  passed,  after  which  the  vine 
may  be  cut  without  bleeding.  As  nobody  can  tell  which 
buds  will  produce  blossoms,  it  is  necessary  to  wait  until 
they  appear. 

With  us  (on  the  Rhine),  the  vine  blossoms  within  a 
month,  commencing  after  the  first  week  in  June.  The 
last  pruning  of  the  vine,  together  with  pinching,  must 
therefore  be  done  a  little  before  or  after  blossoming.  Then 
all  blossom  buds  are  developed,  and  the  shoots,  which  will 
bear  fruit,  can  be  selected.  Up  to  that  time  the  vine  is 
suffered  to  swing  untied  about  the  poles,  or  to  hang  on 
the  trellis.  There  is  nothing  so  easily  injured  as  the  eye 
of  the  vine  that  has  just  started.  Jt  is  broken  off  when 
slightly  touched  with  the  arm,  or  when  the  branch  receives 
a  push.  When  the  vines  are  pruned  and  tied  in  March,  it 
is  at  a  time  when  the  eyes  have  just  pushed,  and  when 
they  are  easily  injured. 

Moreover,  the  leader  for  the  year  cannot  well  be  dis- 
tinguished or  chosen  at  that  time.  When,  on  the  contrary, 
the  last  pruning  and  pinching  are  done  in  the  first  half  of 
June,  it  is  easy  to  select  the  shoots  for  next  year's  bearing ; 
also  the  shoots  destitute  of  blossoms  can  be  seen.  The 
vine  is  open  and  expanded  before  the  vintner. 

Commencing  at  the  base  of  the  vine,  the  vintner  selects 
the  shoots  intended  for  canes  the  next  year.  He  is  careful 
that  there  are  not  too  many  left  on  any  one  part  of  the 
stem,  but  that  the  whole  number  is  equally  distributed  over 
the  different  heads  of  the  stem ;  then  he  proceeds  with  his 
work  in  an  upward  direction,  pinching  all  shoots  whicli 
show  blossoms  at  two  leaves  beyond  the  uppermost  cluster, 
and  removing  their  laterals  or  the  buds  in  the  axils  of  their 
leaves.  Should  there  be  a  cane  without  any  shoots  showing 
blossoms,  it  is  to  be  cut  off  above  the  lowermost   shoot. 


92  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

Then  nothing  is  left  on  the  vine  but  the  shoots  intended 
for  canes,  and  the  pinched  shoots  with  blossoms. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  clusters  on  such  a  vine  must  be 
more  perfect  and  better  than  on  vines  of  which  the  shoots 
that  do  not  bear  are  left  to  grow;  there  will  be  at 
last  a  profusion  of  useless  wood  and  leaves  to  be  cut  off 
in  the  fall.  As  soon  as  the  shoots  not  bearing  are  re- 
moved, the  shoot  for  bearing  canes,  as  well  as  those  pinch- 
ed, develops  rapidly,  growing  so  vigorously  and  strong,  and 
maturing  its  wood  so  well,  that  the  results  of  this  pruning 
and  pinching  will  be  far  more  favorable  than  would 
have  been  the  case  had  they  been  treated  in  the  common 
way.  The  early  tying  in  March  prevents  the  vintner  from 
performing  these  operations,  because  it  would  imply  the 
necessity  of  cutting  tl^3  vines  loose  again,  in  order  to  have 
free  access  to  all  parts.  In  this  way  the  labor  of  the  first 
tying  would  be  lost.  I  have  had  the  experience,  that  the 
vines  of  a  vineyard,  tied  before  development,  had  to  be 
loosened  in  order  to  pinch  and  to  remove  unfruitful  shoots. 
A  great  deal  of  wood  had  to  be  removed,  which  caused 
the  rest  to  develop,  and  grow  the  more  vigorously.  Pinch- 
ing and  removing  unfruitful  shoots  requires  some  knowl- 
edge ;  therefore  only  experienced  persons  are  to  be  entrust- 
ed with  this  operation,  while  others,  receiving  lower  wages, 
may  be  employed  to  tie  them  up.  To  recapitulate :  my 
rule  is  not  to  do  any  thing  to  the  vine,  either  in  the  vine- 
yard or  in  the  garden,  before  all  the  blossoms  are  visible 
and  developed,  and  then  to  remove  unfruitful  shoots,  and 
to  perform  pinching  and  tying  at  the  same  time. 

I  see  now,  clearly,  why  vignerons  are  so  much  opposed 
to  pinching.  If  they  do  not  discontinue  their  custom  of 
tying  in  March,  they  of  course  cannot  do  anything  to 
them  in  June.  The  first  step  would  be,  to  dispense  with 
the  operations  performed  in  March ;   but  frhat  would  be 


THE    GRAPE   VINE.  93 

conflicting  too  much  with  the  habits  and  prejudices  of 
the  vignerons,  which  are  paramount  to  every  thing  else. 
Besides,  the  spring  work  done  to  the  vine,  when  deferred 
till  June,  is  profitable  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view.  In 
March,  plowing  and  sowing  are  to  be  done  in  the  fields ; 
therefore  help  is  always  scarce.  In  the  beginning  of 
June,  there  is  an  ebb  in  agriculture ;  grain,  potatoes,  etc., 
are  growing  and  do  not  require  any  work ;  mowing  is  to 
be  done  a  little  later,  consequently  it  is,  at  this  season,  easy 
enough  to  procure  the  necessary  help.  I  request  intelli- 
gent cultivators  of  the  vine  to  follow  my  example  in  pinch- 
ing and  tying  late,  and  then  to  report  the  result  in  public 
prints. 

The  effect  of  removing  useless  shoots  of  the  vine  ex- 
tends not  only  over  the  current,  but  also  over  the  follow- 
ing year.  When  unfruitful  shoots  are  suffered  to  remain, 
an  enormous  quantity  of  shoots  and  leaves  is  produced, 
so  that  the  sap,  furnished  by  the  root,  is  not  sufficient  to 
mature  them.  The  consequence  is,  that  a  large  number  of 
eyes  on  the  shoots  intended  for  canes  cannot  produce 
blossoms,  but  only  unfruitful  shoots  in  the  following  year. 

The  same  is  clearly  seen  in  all  fruit  trees.  If  all  shoots 
are  suffered  to  grow  undisturbed,  many  fruit  trees  do  not 
bear  for  years,  that  is,  not  until  the  root  is  sufficiently  de- 
veloped for  the  wood  growth,  as  well  as  for  the  forma- 
tion of  blossom  buds.  But  if,  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
summer,  the  tops  of  the  twigs  are  broken  off,  the  lower 
eyes  are  changed  to  fruit  buds  for  the  following  year.  If 
this  pinching  is  done  too  early,  the  lower  eyes  push,  and 
the  object  sought  is  not  accomplished.  In  the  vine  the 
period  is  very  late  in  the  season,  at  which  pinching  does 
not  excite  the  lower  eyes  into  growth.  The  less  favorable 
the  weather,  the  more  the  vine  must  be  restricted  to  pro- 
duce fruit  buds  in  the  next  year. 


94  THE   GRAPE    VINE. 

CONSTITUENTS  OF  THE  VINE,  ACCORDING  TO 
THE  PROPORTION  IN  WHICH  THEY  ARE  DIS- 
TRIBUTED IN  THE  DIFFERENT  PARTS. 

The  inorganic  constituents,  that  is,  those  contained  in 
the  ashes  are  the  same  in  all  parts  of  the  vine,  yet  in  pro- 
portions varying  a  little  ;  even  the  ashes  from  all  parts  of  a 
certain  kind,  mixed  together,  differ  a  little  from  those  of 
other  kinds.  These  constituents  amount  in  the  canes  to 
from  2.25  to  2.85  per  cent.,  in  the  small  Burgundy  to  3.G92 
per  cent.,  if  the  boiling  point  of  the  water  is  taken  to  de- 
termine their  dryness.  The  must,  without  exsiccation, 
contains  in  unripe,  blue  grapes  0.259  per  cent.,  in  ripe  ones 
0.34  per  cent,,  from  another  place  0.409  per  cent,  of  ashes. 

The  skins  of  the  little  Burgundy,  dried  at  the  temper- 
ature of  212°,  contain  3.737  per  cent.,  of  the  Schoenfeilner 
4.321  per  cent. ;  the  seeds  of  the  small  Burgundy,  dried 
at  212°,  2.776"  per  cent.,  those  of  the  Schoenfeilner  2.882 
per  cent,  of  ashes.  In  these  ashes,  potash  and  phosphoric 
acid  preponderate  so  much,  that  we  will  only  mention  their 
relative  amount ;  otherwise  we  should  have  to  go  into  an 
elaborate  detail. 

Ashes.                                      Per  cent  of  Per  cent,  of 

Potash.  plwsphoric  acid. 

1)  Of  the  seeds  oi  the  blue  grapes 27.868  27.005 

2)  Of  the  seeds  of  white  grapes 29.454  21.054 

3)  Of  wood  from  canes  (little  Burgundy). 37.309  9.587 

4)  Of  the  skins  of  blue  grapes 44.656  7.055 

5)  Of  the  must  of  white  grapes 62.745  17.044 

6)  Of  the  must  of  ripe  blue  grapes 65.043  16.578 

7)  Of  the  must  of  unripe  blue  grapes 66.334  ,   15.378 

8)  Of  the  must  of  ripe  blue  grapes 71.852  14.073 

(Plaeuerraergel.) 

In  the  first  column,  the  constituents  are  arranged  ac- 
cording to  the  increasing  amount  of  potash  ;  in  the  second 
column  the  amount  of  phosphoric  acid  is  decreasing  near- 
ly in  the  same  ratio  ;  the  proportion  of  phosphoric  acid, 
contained  in  the  must,  is  different  from  that  contained  in 


THE    GEAPE   VINE.  93 

the  body  of  the  vine.  But  in  the  four  kinds  of  must 
phosphoric  acid  decreases  also,  in  the  same  ratio  in  which 
the  amount  of  potash  increases.  This  circumstance  is  too 
regular  to  he  accidental ;  but  its  significance  is,  as  yet,  un- 
known. It  is  evident  from  this  that  the  greatest  amount 
of  potash  and  phosphoric  acid  is  carried  out  of  the  vine- 
yard along  with  the  wine. 

The  smallest  amount  of  potash,  that  is,  from  3  to  5  per 
cent.,  is  contained  in  the  must ;  a  larger  amount,  i.e.,  from 
20  to  21  per  cent,  in  the  ashes  of  the  skins;  a  still  greater 
amount,  i.e.,  from  32  to  35  per  cent,  in  the  ashes  of  the 
seed ;  the  greatest,  however,  i.e.,  from  36  to  43^-  per  cent, 
in  the  ashes  of  canes.  The  amount  of  soda  is,  on  the 
whole,  small,  viz. :  1  per  cent,  in  the  ashes  of  must,  and  3 
per  cent,  in  those  of  canes  ;  that  of  sulphuric  acid  is  in 
the  ashes  of  the  vine,  from  2  to  3  per  cent.,  in  those  of  the 
must  5  per  cent. 

The  organic  constituents  are  distributed  in  the  follow- 
ing proportion : 

Old  wood  and  that  from  canes  contain  starch.  If  wood 
be  cut  in  small  pieces  and  boiled  in  water,  the  liquid  turns 
blue  by  adding  a  solution  of  iodine.  Unripe  wood  does 
not  contain  starch.  The  peduncles  of  the  grape  contain 
some  of  it  in  the  middle  of  the  summer,  but  not  after- 
wards, because  it  goes  back  into  the  vine.  The  berry  is 
the  only  part  of  the  vine  which  contains  sugar ;  it  is  not 
found  in  any  other.  In  the  juice  of  the  ripe  berry  there 
are  tartaric  and  malic  acid,  bitartrate  of  potash,  and 
vegetable  albumen,  but  no  tannic  acid,  either  in  white  or 
blue  grapes. 

Free  acid  decreases  in  the  ratio  in  which  the  grape 
matures,  until  it  reaches  that  amount  which  is  proportionate 
to  the  variety  or  the  temperature  of  the  year.  After  hav- 
ing reached  this  point  the  acid  seems  to  again  increase  a 
little.     If  the  free  acid  is  considered  as  crystallized  tartaric 


96 


THE    GRAPE    VINE. 


acid,  the  results  of  experiments,  made  in  the  year  1858, 
with  juice  obtained  from  pressing,  were  the  following : 

1.  Tkollinger  (Frankenthal,  Black  Hamburg)— Acid  per  Mill. 

August  15,  entirely  unripe, 31. 

August  30,  unripe, 31.5 

September  11,  not  ripe,  but  colored  a  little, 28 

October  23,  ripe, 13. 

November  4,  ripe, 13. 

2.  Burgundy. 

August  15,  entirely  unripe, 34.5 

August  30,  entirely  unripe, 34. 

September  11,  part  blue  and  part  still  green, 17.5 

October  15,  ripe, 12. 

October  23,  ripe 9. 

November  4,  ripe, 9. 

3.  White  Chasselas. 

August  15,  entirely  unripe, 34. 

August  30,  ripening, 15. 

September  11,  eatable,  but  not  quite  ripe, 11.5 

October  15,  perfectly  ripe, 6. 

October  23, 6. 

November  4, 7.5 

These  experiments  show  that  the  acid  in  1  and  2  did  not 
diminish  from  October  23  to  November  4,  but  that  in  3 
it  increased  one  and  a  half  thousandths. 

The  skins  of  the  berries  contain  tannin.  This  is  shown 
by  boiling  them  in  water  and  adding  a  few  drops  of  chlo- 
ride of  iron  to  the  strained  liquid,  and  then  a  solution  of 
bicarbonate  of  soda.  The  color  of  the  liquid  is  then 
changed  to  that  of  ink.  Furthermore  the  skins  of  blue 
grapes  contain  the  coloring  matter  Avhich,  in  its  composi- 
tion, is  very  similar  to  that  of  tannin. 

The  seeds  contain  a  large  amount  of  tannin,  and  about 
5  per  cent,  of  fat  oil,  but  it  would  cost  more  to  jDress  it 
out  than  it  is  worth.  It  has  a  somewhat  greenish  color, 
and  belongs  to  the  drying  oils.  If  it  could  be  had,  it  would 
be  useful  for  many  purposes.  If  the  seeds  remain  in  the 
juice  while  fermenting,  the  tannin  is  exhausted  from  them, 
as  is  the  case  in  red  wines.      A  preparation,  containing 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  97 

tannin,  can  be  made  from  the  seeds  when  extracted  with 
wine  or  alcohol;  it  is  made  use  of  in  the  management  of 
wine  in  the  cellar. 

The  peduncles  of  the  grapes,  called  combs,  contain 
much  tannin  as  well  as  free  acid.  Their  taste  is  acerb 
and  sour.  What  they  impart  to  the  wine,  is  injurious; 
neither  do  they  contribute  anything  to  its  agreeable  taste 
or  to  its  durability.  There  are,  therefore,  three  parts  con- 
taining tannic  acid,  namely — the  skins,  the  seeds  and  the 
combs  ;  it  is  necessary  to  take  cognizance  of  this  distribu- 
tion in  making  wine.  Concerning  the  proportion  of  the 
weight  of  the  must  and.  the  other  parts  of  the  grape,  ex- 
periments have  shown  the  following : 

Berries  of  the  white  Chasselas,  picked  from  the  combs 
and  powerfully  j:>ressed,  yield, 

Of  juice, 97  per  cent. 

Of  skins,  seeds  and  solid  substance,      3         " 

Berries  of  the  blue  Burgundy,  picked,  from  the  combs, 
yield, 

Of  juice,        -        -        -  •      -        -  94.8  per  cent. 
Of  skins,  seeds  and  solid  substance,   5.2        " 

Berries  of  the  blue  Burgundy,  pressed  together  with  the 
combs,  yield, 

Of  juice, 91.8  per  cent. 

Of  combs,  skins,  seeds  and  solid 

substance,  -     9  " 

The  remains  of  blue  Burgundy  grapes,  fermented  and 
then  pressed,  yielded, 

Of  wine, 69.6  per  cent. 

Of  remains,        -        -        -        .30.4        " 

From  these  experiments  the  great  loss  in  wine,  suffered 
by  the  vigneron,  who  generally  throws  away  the  pressed 
husks,  is  clearly  seen  ;  it  amounts  to  70  per  cent,  of  the 
weight  of  the  husks.     The  same  is  true  in  regard  to  the 


98  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

loss  of  must  in  the  husks  of  white  wine,  when  they  are  re- 
moved before  the  fermentation.  There  is  no  press  power- 
ful enough  to  overcome,  by  mechanical  force,  this  almost 
chemical  affinity.  They  cannot  be  effectually  pressed  out 
until  the  cells  are  opened  by  fermentation.  Raspberries 
and  gooseberries  are  similar,  in  this  respect,  to  grapes. 


HINTS 

ON  THE  PROPAGATION  AND- GENERAL  TREATMENT  OP 

AMERICAN    VARIETIES. 

BY 

THE    TRANSLATOR. 


PROPAGATION  OF  THE  GRAPE  VINE. 

As  the  propagation  of  the  Continental  varieties  of  the 
vine  is  attended  with  so  little  difficulty,  that  it  cannot  be 
compared  with  that  of  the  American  species  and  their 
varieties,  Dr.  Mohr's  excellent  work  would  not,  in  this 
respect,  give  satisfaction  to  the  American  reader.  To 
make  additions  and  alterations  would  have  been  very  in- 
convenient; we  have,  therefore,  preferred  to  omit  Dr. 
Mohr's  chapter  on  propagation,  altogether,  and  to  insert 
here  a  brief  description  of  the  methods  used  in  this  country 
for  the  propagation  of  the  native  vine,  and  practiced  by 
ourselves.  Growers  of  the  grape,  on  a  large  scale,  will 
resort  to  more  extensive  and  complicated  arrangements. 
They  will  find  a  detailed  description  of  them  in  Fuller's 
Grape  CuUurist,  a  thoroughly  practical  work  on  the  man- 
agement of  the  vine. 
99 


100  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

I_ BY  LAYERS. 

Layering  is  an  easy  and  certain  way  to  obtain  young 
plants,  and  consists  in  bending  a  cane  or  a  green  shoot 
down  to  the  ground,  and  covering  it  with  soil.  The  part 
so  buried  will  be  found  well  rooted  in  the  fall. 

To  make  a  layer  of  a  cane  (old  wood),  make  a  little 
ditch  four  or  six  inches  deep  and  long  enough  to  receive 
the  cane.  This  must,  of  course,  be  made  near  the  vine, 
but  so  that  the  roots  of  it  may  not  be  injured.  If  this 
cannot  be  avoided,  the  smallest  roots  being  so  near  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  it  is  better  to  make  the  ditch  at  a 
little  distance  from  the  vine,  and  to  bury  only  a  part  of 
the  cane,  the  rest  remaining  above  ground.  Early  in  the 
spring,  before  the  buds  commence  swelling,  the  cane  is  laid 
down  into  the  ditch,  and  kept  in  place  by,pegs  or  stones. 
When  the  shoots  from  the  cane  have  grown  a  few  inches, 
four  or  six  of  them  are  selected  and  retained;  all  others  are 
rubbed  off,  especially  those  starting  from  buds  on  the 
lower  side  of  the  cane.  Then  fine  and  rich  soil  is  thrown 
into  the  ditch,  but  not  more  than  about  an  inch  deep  at 
a  time.  This  filling  in  must  be  gradually  continued  in 
proportion  as  the  shoots  grow,  until  the  ditch  is  full.  Too 
much  soil  at  once,  while  the  shoots  are  too  young  and 
succulent,  might  cause  their  decay.  The  feioer  the  plants 
taken  from  a  cane  the  stronger  they  will  he.  Fruit 
bearing  is  a  natural,  but  exhausting,  process  ;  it  is,  there- 
fore, a  bad  practice  to  take  fruit  from  those  shoots,  as 
some  do.  The  vine  roots  so  easily  that  it  is  not  necessary 
to  notch  it  between  the  joints,  as  it  is  customary  in  layer- 
ing other  plants. 

In  the  autumn,  after  the  fall  of  the  leaf,  the  cane  is 
severed  from  the  stem  and  carefully  lifted  with  a  digging 
fork,  so  as  not  to  break  or  mutilate  the  roots  of  the  young 
plants.  It  is  then  cut  into  as  many  pieces  as  there  are 
plants. 


THE    GttAPE    VINE.  101 

Should  a  single  plant  only  be  desired,  the  cine  may  be 
pruned  shorter,  bent  down  into  the  ditch  and  covered  at 
once  with  soil,  except  the  last  (highest)  bud.  This  must 
remain  just  above  ground ;  therefore,  the  cane  must  be 
bent  abruptly  upwards  at  the  end.  of  the  ditch,  and  kept 
in  place  by  a  peg  or  stone.  A  little  stick  should  indicate 
the  place ;  otherwise  the  eye  or  the  shoot  from  it  may  in- 
advertently be  destroyed.  A  layer  of  this  kind  made  in 
a  basket  or  box  of  lattice  work,  filled  with  good  soil  and 
set  in  the  ground,  is  easily  raised  in  the  fall,  and  planted, 
without  disturbing  it,  where  it  is  intended  to  grow.  The 
roots  protruding  from  the  basket  or  box  must  be  pre- 
served with  the  utmost  care;  the  receptacle  will  soon 
decay,  and  a  whole  year  will  he  gained*  To  recommend, 
as  some  do,  such  box-layer  plants  for  immediate  bearing, 
is,  to  say  the  least,  wrong.  It  is  time  that  those  unac- 
quainted with  the  management  of  the  vine  should  be  cau- 
tioned against  buying  vines  of  this  kind  for  extravagant 
prices.  Box-layers,  if  properly  managed  and  planted,  are 
very  good,  indeed,  but  not  for  immediate  bearing. 

Also  wood,  two  years  old,  roots  easily  enough,  so  that 
a  cane  which  has  borne  fruit  may  be  used  for  layering  in- 
stead of  cutting  it  off  in  the  fall. 

Layers  may  also  be  made  of  young  green  shoots  or  of 
the  tops  of  them,  in  July.  All  that  is  necessary  is,  to 
cover  a  part,  or  the  top  of  a  green  shoot  with  soil.  I  gen- 
erally put  a  good-sized  stone  on  it ;  it  keeps  the  shoot  in 
place,  prevents  the  moisture  from  evaporating,  and  equal- 
izes the  temperature.  Of  course,  the  projecting  top  must 
not  be  injured.  Notching,  in  summer  layering,  is  useful, 
but  not  indispensable.  If  the  shoot  is  too  young  or  the 
notch  too  deep  or  too  long,  the  part  above  it  is  apt  to 
wither.  From  strong  shoots,  beautiful  plants  are  obtained 
in  this  way. 


102  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

II—  BY  CUTTINGS. 

Cuttings  are  pieces  of  either  old  wood  of  the  previous 
year,  or  of  young  green  wood  of  the  current  year,  each 
having  one  eye  at  least,  mostly  two  or  more.  When 
planted  in  soil  or  sand,  under  suitable  conditions,  they 
root  very  easily,  making  good  plants. 

AVe  consider  here,  first,  long  cuttings  from  old  wood. 
In  some,  especially  southern,  countries,  such  as  are  several 
feet  long,  are  preferred ;  in  others,  such  as  are  a  foot  or 
eighteen  inches  long.  At  present  there  is  a  tendency  to 
make  them  only  six  inches  long,  even  shorter,  in  short- 
jointed  varieties.  The  wood  is  preserved  in  sand,  or  in 
common  garden  soil  in  a  cellar,  or  at  the  north  side  of  a 
building  till  wanted;  it  ought  to  be  protected  from  freez- 
ing. At  the  approach  of  spring  the  wood  so  preserved  is 
cut  into  small  pieces  of  the  length  required.  The  lower 
cut  must  be  horizontal  immediately  below  a  bud ;  above,  it 
is  slanting  on  the  side  opposite  the  bud,  but  at  the  dis- 
tance of  about  an  inch  from  it.  Although  it  is  better  to 
make  the  lower  horizontal  cut  immediately  below  an  eye, 
yet  this  is  not  absolutely  necessary,  as  the  vine  quickly 
roots  also  from  the  internodes  (the  space  between  two 
buds).  Such  a  cutting,  with  a  piece  of  still  older  wood  at- 
tached to  it,  from  which  the  shoot  grew,  is  called  a  ham- 
mer cutting.  Hammer  cuttings  were  very  much  preferred 
by  the  Romans,  and  are  especially  recommended,  at  pres- 
ent, for  the  Delaware  and  other  hard-wooded  varieties. 
They  are  only  occasionally  obtained,  unless  the  laterals  are 
suffered  to  grow  and  to  ripen  their  wood  on  a  cane,  which 
.may,  in  this  case,  be  divided  into  as  many  hammer  cut- 
tings as  there  are  laterals.  The  pieces  of  the  cane  itself 
must  be  half  an  inch  or  an  inch  long. 

Cuttings,  so  prepared,  must  be  tied  in  bundles,  carefully 
labeled  and  preserved   in  sand,  till  the  weather  is  warm 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  103 

enough,  in  the  middle  of  April  or  beginning  of  May  for 
planting  them. 

Some  put  them,  about  eight  or  ten  days  before  planting, 
two  or  three  inches  deep  in  water  till  the  eyes  begin  to 
swell.  In  this  way  I  often  succeeded  in  making  Delaware 
cuttings  root  in  the  open  air.  By  accident  a  number  of 
pieces  of  that  variety,  lying  in  water,  had  been  forgotten ; 
when  found,  I  planted  them  in  clayey  soil  in  the  garden, 
when  every  one  of  them  grew.  I  made  this  accidental 
experiment  known  in  the  "  Horticulturist."  (See  1863, 
p.  160). 

The  planting  must  be  done  with  care.  To  make  holes 
with  a  dibble  is  certainly  a  rough  practice.  Not  only  are 
the  sides  of  the  hole  pressed  by  it  into  a  solid  mass,  offer- 
ing much  resistance  to  the  rootlets,  but  the  lower  (cut) 
part  of  the  cutting  is  too  often  injured  by  thrusting  it 
into  the  hole.  It  is  also  in  this  case  difficult  to  press  the 
soil  firmly  around  the  lower  part,  which"  is  essential. 

It  is  much  better  to  make  the  holes  or  ditch  with  a 
spade.  Long  cuttings  are  planted  in  a  slanting  position, 
in  order  not  to  bury  their  lower  ends  too  deep  in  the 
ground.  They  cannot  grow  without  being  excited  by  the 
warmth  of  the  soil,  imparted  by  the  sun.  The  upper  eye 
must  either  be  at  a  level  with  the  surface  of  the  ground, 
or  a  quarter  of  an  inch  below  it.  A  little  sand  or  moss 
placed  on  it  will  prevent  it  from  drying  up  before  it  starts. 
That  such  "cuttings  ought  occasionally  to  be  watered,  when 
necessary,  does  not  require  any  special  explanation. 

The  advantage  claimed  for  cutting  more  than  six  inches 
long,  is  more  specious  and  imaginary,  than  real  and  true. 
It  is  true,  there  are  very  many  nodes  in  the  ground,  each 
of  which  may  emit  roots ;  but  experience  shows  that  every 
node  of  so  long  a  piece  of  a  cane  does  not  emit  roots,  and 
so  much  wood  without  roots  when  buried  in  the  ground, 
is  apt  to  decay.  The  same  object  is  accomplished,  but 
with  certainty  and  without  danger,  by  layering  the  cane, 


104  TllE    GRAPE   VIXE. 

growing  from  a  cutting,  in  one  or  several  successive 
years. 

It  is  advisable  to  remove  the  brownish  epidermis  from 
the  lower  end  of  a  cutting,  say  for  about  two  or  three 
inches.  It  may  easily  be  done,  after  the  cutting  has  been 
kept  in  water  several  days  previous.  It  is  so  hard  that 
the  yonng  roots  penetrate  it  with  difficulty.  Also  the 
remaining  parts  of  the  bases  of  the  foot  stalks  of  the  leaves 
ought  to  be  scraped  off;  for  fungoid  growths  destructive 
to  the  eyes  above  them  form  there  easily. 

In  some  parts  of  Germany,  for  instance,  near  Heilbronn 
on  the  JVeckar,  the  cuttings,  tied  in  bundles  of  about  fifty 
or  a  hundred,  several  weeks  previous  to  planting,  are  buried 
in  the  ground,  but  in  an  inverted  position,  that  is,  their 
tops  downwards  and  their  cut  ends  upwards.  They  are 
then  covered  with  moss  and  soil,  four  or  five  inches  deep, 
in  a  very  sunny  exposure,  and  kept  moist.  When  taken 
out,  most  of  them  will  be  found  rooted. 

From  DubreuiVs  work,  Culture  perfectionee,  etc.,  du 
vignoble,  Paris,  1863,  pp.  30  and  31,  it  appears  that  the 
vine  cuttings  are  not  unfrequently  so  treated  in  France. 
I  called  the  attention  of  those  interested  to  this  process. 
(See  Horticulturist,  1864,  pp.  61,  62,  140  and  141). 

Mr.  Win.  Patrick,  nurseryman  at  Terre  Haute,  Ind., 
has  very  much  improved  it.  After  a  short  notice,  given 
in  the  Gardener's  Monthly,  he  has  furnished  a  full  account 
of  his  method  to  the  Horticultural  Annual,  published  by 
Orange  Judd  &  Co.,  1867,  from  which  I  make  an  extract : 

"  Before  the  ground  freezes,  the  cuttings,  from  four  to 
six  inches  long,  are  tied  in  bundles  of  about  fifty  each,  and 
the  lower  ends  puddled  by  dipping  them  half  their  length 
in  mud,  made  of  loamy  soil,  mixed  with  water  to  about 
the  consistency  of  cream.  They  are  then,  lower  ends  doic?i, 
put  in  cold  frames,  fine  soil  is  sprinkled  over  them  to  fill 
the  spaces  between  the  bundles,  and  they  are  then  covered 
about  four  inches  deep  with  earth.     After  they  have  been 


THE    GRAPE   TINE.  105 

rained  upon,  and  it  begins  to  freeze,  they  are  covered 
with  leaves  or  straw,  and  sheltered  by  boards. 

"  In  the  spring,  the  mulch  having  been  removed,  sashes 
are  laid  on,  but  so  that  enough  ventilation  is  provided  ; 
water  is  given,  when  needed,  and  so  they  root  in  about 
five  weeks. 

"  Without  sashes  they  will  root,  likewise,  when  treated  in 
the  manner  just  described.  In  this  case  they  must  be 
buried  in  an  exposure  inclined  to  the  south.  Should  no 
roots  have  started  in  some  of  the  cuttings,  two  pieces  of 
bark,  two  or  three  inches  long,  on  opposite  sides  of  the 
lower  ends  of  the  cuttings,  are  taken  off  with  a  sharp  knife. 
Treated  and  planted  in  this  way,  they  make  excellent 
plants.  Cuttings  of  single  eyes  can  be  made  to  grow  in 
the  same  way  just  as  easily  as  longer  cuttings. 

"  This  plan  is  especially  adapted  to  cuttings  from  the 
Delaware  and  other  hard-wooded  varieties." 

Diel  says  in  his  well  known  and  highly  valued  work, 
"  Fruit  Trees  in  Pots,"  third  edition,  Frankfort-on-t he- 
Main,  1804,  p.  212.  "We had  never  succeeded  in  raising 
Paradise  stocks  for  dwarfing  the  apple,  from  cuttings.  By 
treating  such  cuttings  as  described  in  the  above,  I  am 
raising  hundreds  of  them  every  year.  I  keep  the  cuttings 
in  sand  during  the  winter,  and  bury  them,  in  the  spring, 
as  soon  as  the  frost  is  fairly  out  of  the  ground,  in  a  sun- 
ny spot,  the  top  ends  downwards,  and  cover  their  lower 
ends,  (which  are,  of  course,  up,)  with  moss  three  or  four 
inches  deep,  sprinkling  them,  when  needed,  with  luke- 
warm water.  This  method  is  applicable  in  raising  plants 
from  a  number  of  shrubs  and  trees..  As  it  is  not  generally 
known  or  practiced,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  thoroughly 
recommend  it." 

CUTTINGS  MADE  OF  SINGLE  EYES. 

They  are  made  by  cutting  a  cane  into  as  many  pieces 
as  it  has  well  developer! eyes  on  perfectly  ripe  wood;  when 
5* 


10G  TTIE    GRAPE    VIXE. 

an  inch  and  a  half  long,  so  that  there  is  an  inch  of  wood 
below,  and  half  an  inch  of  wood  above  the  bud,  they  are 
of  the  right  si/A'.  The  cuts  may  be  made  by  means  of  a 
knife  or  of  good  garden  shears,  which  are  now  so  made 
that  they  do  not  bruise,  but  make  a  clean  cut. 

The  eyes,  so  prepared,  ought  to  be  put  in  water  and 
left  there  for  ten  or  twelve  hours.  This  will  soften  the 
remnants  of  the  base  of  the  leaf-stalk,  so  that  it  may  easily 
be  removed  by  scraping.  If  such  cuttings  can  be  made 
during  the  months  of  January  and  February,  it  is  advisa- 
ble to  pack  them  in  moist,  not  wet,  moss  or  sand,  and  to 
keep  them  there,  free  from  frost,  till  wanted  for  planting. 
Hard  wood  varieties,  especially  the  Delaware,  grow  with 
certainty  from  single  eye  cuttings  treated  in  this  way. 

Cuttings  of  single  eyes  do  not  grow  very  easily  in  the 
open  air,  when  planted  in  beds ;  either  frames  with  a 
gentle  heat  must  be  prepared  for  them,  or  a  propagating 
bench  in  a  green-house  must  be  arranged  for  them. 
Although  a  tank,  connected  with  a  heating  boiler,  in  which 
water,  heated  by  the  boiler,  circulates,  is,  beyond  question, 
the  best  arrangement,  yet  a  common  flue,  enclosed  by 
two  brick  walls,  three  feet  distant  from  each  other,  and 
covered  by  the  propagating  boxes,  answers  a  very  good 
purpose.  The  bottom  of  these  boxes  consists  of  slate  or 
tin,  resting  on  cross-strips,  extending  from  one  side-board 
to  the  other.  If  these  side-boards  are  from  eight  to  nine 
inches  wide,  and  if  the  boxes  are  filled  with  washed  sand 
to  the  depth  of  four  inches,  there  is  room  enough  for  the 
young  plants  to  develop  and  grow  sufficiently,  before  they 
are  planted  out.  The  distance  of  the  bottom  of  the  boxes 
from  the  flue  must,  of  course,  be  so  regulated,  that  the 
heat  reaching  the  bottom  shall  not  be  too  great.  As 
such  flues  generally  rise  a,  little  along  their  whole  length, 
the  top  of  the  flue,  near  its  inlet,  is  further  removed  from 
the  bottom  of  the  flue,  than  towards  it  outlet.  The  boxes, 
being  level,  arc,  therefore,  nearer  to  the  flue  towards  ils 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  107 

outlet,  than  at  the  beginning.  Besides,  flat  stones  or  bricks 
may  be  laid  on  the  flue  near  the  fire-place,  and  two  open- 
ings ought  to  be  made  in  the  inside  wall,  closed  with  shut- 
ters. In  this  way  the  temperature  derived  may  easily  be 
regulated  and  maintained. 

To  cover  the  propagating  boxes  either  with  sashes,  or 
calico  or  paper  frames,  is  a  very  good  plan  to  regulate 
the  moisture  and  to  shade  the  cuttings. 

The  cuttings  are  planted  immediately  in  the  sand,  or  in 
pots  plunged  into  it.  Some  set  them  straight,  others  in  a 
slanting  position,  but,  at  all  events,  deep  enough  to  have 
the  eye  just  at  a  level  with  the  sand,  or  covered  about  a 
quarter  or  half  an  inch  by  it.  Many  lay  them  horizontally 
on  the  sand,  pack  them  on,  and  cover  them  about  a  quarter 
or  half  an  inch  deep  with  it.  There  exists  also  a  dif- 
ference of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  form  of  the  cuttings ; 
but  the  method,  detailed  in  the  above,  is  certain  in  its  re- 
sults, provided  the  right  temperature  and  a  proper  degree 
of  moisture  are  provided. 

The  principle  of  the  proper  treatment  of  such  cuttings 
is  based  on  the  laws  of  vegetable  physiology.  It  is  con- 
tained in  the  following :  In  order  to  facilitate  the  emis- 
sion of  roots,  the  lower  ends  of  the  cuttings  must  be  hept 
during  a  certain  period  in  a  temperature  that  is  several 
degrees  higher  than  that  which  surrounds  their  tops.  At 
the  outset,  a  temperature  of  from  forty  to  fifty  degrees  is 
sufficient ;  this  is  to  be  raised  gradually  to  seventy-five  or 
eighty,  still  later,  even  to  ninety  degrees  when  the  cuttings 
grow  vigorously  and  are  well  rooted.  In  general,  it  is 
much  better  not  to  increase  the  bottom  heat  too  much. 
At  the  time  when  the  cuttings  are  placed  in  the  sand,  it  is 
not  difficult  to  maintain  a  temperature  in  the  house  which 
is  lower  than  that  in  the  propagating  boxes  ;  later,  a  higher 
temperature  of  the  house  has  no  deleterious  effect. 

As  soon  as  the  cuttings  are  placed  in  the  sand,  they 
must  be  thoroughly  sprinkled  with  water,  so  that  all  the 


108  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

sand  is  moistened.  The  sand  must  never  become  too  dry. 
When  the  cuttings  are  watered  once  a  day,  or  in  the  be- 
ginning even  less  frequently,  it  is  sufficient.  The  condi- 
tion of  the  sand  itself  is  a  never  failing  guide  in  this  sim- 
ple operation.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  caution  here 
against  the  use  of  cold  water.  It  must  be  warmed  a  little, 
either  on  the  fire,  or  by  adding  hot  water.  As  to  the  best 
time  for  planting  cuttings,  it  is  advisable  not  to  be  in  too 
great  haste.  For  long  cuttings  to  be  grown  out  of  doors, 
the  middle,  or  even  the  end,  of  April  or  the  beginning  of 
May  is  the  time  most  suitable  ;  for  single  eyes  the  begin- 
ning of  March  is  best,  although  the  process  is  often  com- 
menced very  early  in  the  winter.  Long  cuttings  remain 
in  the  place  where  they  are  planted  until  fall  or  even  until 
the  spring  following,  but  in  this  case  under  sufficient 
covering.  They  are  then  taken  up  and  heeled-in,  if  this 
takes  place  in  the  fall,  or  planted  where  they  are  intended 
to  grow.  Those  not  sufficiently  well  rooted  are  planted 
in  fertile  soil,  after  their  roots  have  been  shortened  a  little, 
to  grow  there  another  season  before  they  are  planted  in 
the  places  assigned  to  them. 

Cuttings  of  one  eye  each  are  either  taken  out  of  the  sand 
and  planted  in  small  pots,  and  frequently  transplanted 
into  larger  ones,  or  into  borders  made  in  the  open  air,  which 
is  preferable.  In  the  latter  case  furrows  several  inches 
deep  are  made,  at  the  bottom  of  which  the  young  plants 
arc  put,  in  little  holes,  so  deep  that  the  woody  part  of  the 
cuttings  is  covered ;  the  roots,  which  are  very  brittle,  must 
not  be  injured,  but  spread  evenly,  so  that  they  retain  their 
natural  position;  then  the  hole  is  filled  with  water  that  is 
not  too  cold,  and  the  holes  are  filled  with  fine  soil  before 
the  water  has  time  to  sink  in  the  ground. 

The  soil  around  the  cuttings  must  not  be  pressed  down, 
but  they  must  be  left  in  the  condition  in  which  water  and 
soil  placed  them.  To  protect  them  during  the  first  weeks 
by  sashes,  or  calico  frames,  is  deemed    essential  by  some. 


THE   GRAPE    VINE.  109 

Others  assert  that  when  planted  as  described,  they  never 
suffer  from  the  sun  or  the  weather*  I  always  shelter  them 
for  several  weeks,  and  sprinkle  them  with  water  as  often 
as  required. 

When  they  are  growing  vigorously,  the  soil  is  to  be 
drawn  towards  their  stems  by  filling  up  the  furrows  in 
which  they  have  been  planted. 

It  is  astonishing  to  observe  their  growth  wThen  so  plant- 
ed and  treated. 

Last  summer  my  cuttings  made  plants  as  thick  as  a 
goose  quill,  from  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  long.  I  never  tie 
them  to  sticks,  but  permit  them  to  trail  on  the  ground. 

CUTTINGS    FROM    GREEN     SHOOTS    WITH    A 
PIECE      OF     THE     CANE      (OLD     WOOD)     AT- 
TACHED    TO     IT. 

This  form  is  intermediate  between  cuttings  made  of  old 
wood  and  those  made  of  green  shoots.  Such  cuttings, 
even  of  hard  wooded  kinds  like  the  Delaware,  root 
very  easily. 

When  the  young  shoots  in  May  have  attained  the  length 
of  about  four  inches,  they  are  cut  off* from  the  cane,  so  that 
about  an  inch  or  two  inches  of  old  wood  below  the  shoot 
is  preserved,  and  about  half  an  inch  above  it.  If  the  green 
shoots  are  a  little  too  long,  their  tops  must  be  removed. 
They  are  then  so  planted  in  sand  that  the  old  wood  lies 
horizontally  in  it,  and  is  covered  half  an  inch  or  an  inch 
deep. 

The  green  shoots  are  then  in  an  erect  position.  No 
bottom  heat  is  required,  though  a  little  of  it  does  not  in- 
jure them.  Nearly  every  one  of  the  cuttings  made  in  this 
way  grows ;  they  will  be  found  rooted  in  a  short  time, 
and  make  very  fine  and  vigorous  plants.  They  are  planted 
out  and  treated  in  precisely  the  same  way  as  described  in 
the  above.     I  accidentally  discovered  this  method  of  propa- 


110  THE    GUAPE   TINE. 


- 


ating  vines  several   years  ago.     It  was,  however,  known 

to  others  long  before  1  discovered  it,  as  Mr.  P.  B.  Mead, 
the  then  Editor  of  the  Horticulturist,  informed  me. 

I  described  the  plan  several  years  ago  in  that  magazine. 
(See  1*64,  p.  61,  and  1*65,  pp.  140  and  141). 

CUTTINGS  MADE  OF  GREEX  SHOOTS. 

Sueli  cuttings  grow  very  easily,  when  managed  in  the 
right  way.  They  are  cut  from  the  cane,  and  shortened  to 
two  or  three  buds,  removing  the  leaves,  except  the  upper- 
most. The  lowest  part  of  the  shoot,  being  firmer  and 
more  solid  than  the  upper  part,  is  to  be  preferred ;  still 
even  the  upper  part  will,  under  proper  management,  grow. 
The  cut,  by  which  the  cutting  is  severed  from  the  cane, 
or  from  the  shoot,  must  always  be  made  below  a  bud. 
The  bud  may  not  be  discernible  at  the  base  of  the  shoot ; 
but  if  the  shoot  is  cut  off  exactly  at  the  place  where  it 
proceeds  from  the  cane,  along  with  a  very  thin  slice  of  the 
latter,  the  cutting  will  be  in  the  right  condition.  Sand  is 
the  best  material  for  making  such  cuttings  grow.  A  mod- 
erate bottom  heat  is  very  desirable,  but  not  absolutely  in- 
dispensable. Several  years  ago,  I  saw  a  large  number  of 
them  grow  on  the  propagating  bench  in  one  of  the  houses 
of  my  friends,  the  Messrs.  Parsons,  at  Flushing.  The 
house  was  kept  very  warm,  but  no  bottom  heat  had  been 
given. 

It  is  of  vital  importance  to  regulate  the  watering  with 
the  greatest  care  ;  they  must,  of  course,  be  shaded,  when 
required,  and  the  atmosphere  around  them  must  be  kept 
damp,  but  not  so  damp  as  to  cause  their  decay- 
According  to  a  communication  from  Mr.  Pr.  Rubens, 
(author  of  a  valuable  work  on  the  culture  of  the  vine,)  in  a 
letter  tome,  cuttings  of  green  shoots  about  18  inches  long, 
when  planted  during  the  summer  in  holes  afoot  deep,  will 
grow  in  the  open  air. 


THE    GRAPE   VINE.  Ill 

When  well  rooted,  such  cuttings  are  treated  in  precise- 
ly the  same  way  as  others.  In  order  to  make  them  strong 
plants,  they  must  be  transplanted  several  times,  that  is, 
in  successive  years,  shortening  their  roots  a  little  each 
time. 

The  question  has  often  been  discussed,  which  kind  of 
cuttings  makes  the  best  plants.  From  the  experience  of 
intelligent  and  skillful  cultivators  of  the  vine,  it  appears 
now  to  be  an  established  fact,  that  good  plants  may,  under 
a  suitable  treatment,  be  obtained,  whatever  method  may 
be  used.  Cuttings,  however,  made  of  single  eyes,  are 
generally  considered  the  best ;  they  unite,  indeed,  so 
many  advantages  in  them,  that  I  do  not  hesitate  to  re- 
commend them  as  preferable. 

III.— BY  GRAFTING. 

The  term  grafting  we  use  here  in  its  broadest  sense, 
including,  like  the  French  word  greffe,  not  only  grafting 
proper,  but  also  inarching,  budding,  etc. 

Common  cleft  grafting  is  performed  in  the  usual  way, 
either  in  March  or  April,  or  in  May  after  two  or  three 
leaves  are  expanded  on  the  stock,  because  the  vine  does 
not  then  bleed  any  more.  It  may  be  done  below  ground, 
which  insures  better  success,  or  above  ground,  which  is, 
if  possible,  to  be  avoided. 

The  stock  is  to  be  cut  off  horizontally  below  the  ground, 
first  removing  the  soil,  pared  smooth,  and  split.  The 
scion,  which  must  be  in  a  dormant  state,  is  cut  to  two 
eyes,  the  lower  one  of  which  must  be  just  above  the  cut, 
after  the  wedge-shaped  part  of  it  has  been  inserted  in  the 
cleft,  and  carefully  adjusted.  If  the  stock  is  thick  enough, 
no  tying  is  required ;  the  application  of  grafting  wax  is  rec- 
ommended by  some,  but  cautioned  against  by  others. 
The  soil  is  then  replaced  and  heaped  up  a  little,  in  order  to 
cover  the  upper  eye  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  deep  with 


112  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

soil.  As  in  cuttings,  the  scion  must  not  be  cut  off  too 
close  above  the  upper  eye  ;  a  piece,  an  inch  lono-,  must  be 
left. 

Mr.  Andrew  S.  Fuller  prefers  the  fall  as  the  best  season 
for  grafting.  The  scion  must,  in  this  case,  be  protected 
from  the  frost  by  covering  it  with  a  flower-pot,  earth  and 
straw,  which  are  to  be  removed  as  soon  as  the  frost  is  fairly 
out  of  the  ground. 

Grafting  is  of  little  use,  except  under  particular  circum- 
stances, and  failures  are  so  common,  that  it  never  will  be 
generally  adopted  as  a  means  of  propagating  the  vine. 
It  is  asserted  by  Dr.  Stayman,  of  Kansas,  a  scientific  viti- 
culturist,  that  taking  off  the  bark  from  the  stock,  as  well 
as  from  the  scion,  as  far  as  the  latter  is  inserted  into  the 
former,  and  not  splitting  the  stock  through  to  the  opposite 
side,  renders  success  certain. 

Pieces  of  succulent  roots  six  or  eight  inches  long, 
dug  towards  the  end  of  March  and  in  the  beginning 
of  April,  are  very  convenient  for  grafting.  They  ought 
to  be  so  selected  and  cut,  that  each  of  them  has 
some  fibrous  roots.  They  may  be  either  cleft  or  splice 
grafted,  tied  firmly  with  worsted  or  other  elastic  woolen 
yarn,  and  kept  in  sand  until  the  weather  gets  warm, 
that  is,  about  the  middle  of  April,  when  they  may 
be  planted  at  once  in  the  garden.  I  always  cover  the 
horizontal  cuts  of  them,  when  they  are  cleft  grafted,  with 
a  little  liquid  grafting  wax.  Although  scions  with  one 
eye  will  grow,  yet  I  prefer  greatly  such  as  have  two  eyes, 
and  plant  the  root  grafts,  if  necessary  on  account  of  their 
length,  in  a  slanting  position,  but  neve?*  too  shallow.  The 
uppermost  eye  should  touch  the  ground;  it  should  be 
covered  a  little  either  with  soil,  sand,  or  moss. 

We  shall  not  devote  any  more  space  here  to  describing 
more  artificial  and  complicated  modes  of  grafting,  nor 
shall  we  recommend  budding  in  a  peculiar  way,  as  prac- 
tised occasionally  by  some  amateurs. 


THE    GEAPE   TINE.  113 

Grafting  grapes  below  ground  and  root  grafting  have 
the  disadvantage  in  common  that  the  scions  throw  out 
roots  of  their  own,  However  desirable  this  may  be  in 
vigorous  growers  and  hardy  kinds,  yet  if  the  scions  are 
taken  from  kinds  having  weak  and  feeble  roots,  such 
roots,  emitted  by  the  scions,  will  unfailingly  impart  feeble- 
ness to  the  plant,  and  paralyze  the  strengthening  influence 
of  the  stock. 

INARCHING  GREEN  SHOOTS  INTO  GREEN 
SHOOTS  OF  GROWING  STOCKS. 

Last  summer  I  had  the  good  fortune  of  making  the  ac- 
quaintance of  Dr.  Charles  Kenworthy,  a  gentleman  re- 
cently from  Australia.  An  enthusiastic  amateur,  and  a 
close  and  keen  observer,  he,  in  almost  daily  conversations 
with  me  about  scientific  and  practical  viticulture,  called 
my  attention  again  to  propagating  the  vine  by  green 
shoots,  inarched  into  the  green  shoots  of  a  growing  vine. 
Years  ago,  I  had,  with  success,  grafted  pieces  of  green 
shoots  into  the  green  shoots  of  growing  vines,  as  stated 
and  described  in  the  Horticulturist,  1862,  pp.  14  to  17,  but 
as  the  procedure  is  rather  too  slow  for  this  fast  going 
country,  I  did  not  expect  that  any  advantage  would  be 
derived  from  it.  Otherwise  it  is  similar  in  its  effects  to 
inarching,  in  making  the  vine  dependent  on  the  roots  of 
the  stock  exclusively. 

Inarching  green  shoots  into  green  shoots  is  equally 
successful  under  glass  and  in  the  open  air.  The  two 
vines  to  be  united  must  be  near  enough  to  each  other 
to  effect  the  union.  The  stronger  and  the  more  vig- 
orous the  shoots '  the  better.  A  little  of  the  bark 
and  the  underlying  green  substance  of  them  is  re- 
moved about  an  inch  or  an  inch  and  a  half  I0112:,  and 
both  are  then  tongued  their  whole  length,  the  vine 
to    be    propagated,    from    below    upwards,    the    stock, 


114 


THE    GRAPE   VINE. 


from  above  downwards.  As  the  young  shoots  are  very 
brittle,  two  persons  are  needed  to  perform  the  operation, 
one  of  them  holding  and  steadying  the  vine  tongued, 
the  other  operating  upon  the  other,  and  uniting  them. 
The  tongue  of  the  stock  must  gofrombe7oic  upwards  into 
the  tongued  place  of  the  other.  Both  are  then  tied  rather 
firmly  with  oiled  silk,  on  which  a  few  grape  leaves  are  put 
or  folded  together  to  keep  the  wounds  cool  and  protect  it 
from  the  influence  of  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun. 

About  a  fortnight  after  the  operation,  the  stock  must 
be  cut  off  an  inch  or  so  above  the  junction  ;  a  week  later,  a. 
cut  is  made  into  the  vine  to  be  propagated  ;  this  is  made 
deeper,  a  few  days  later,  and  the  vine  is  cut  entirely  off  as 
soon  as  the  union  is  complete.  Then  the  leaves  and  the 
worsted  are  removed  also.  It  is  easy  enough  to  deter- 
mine, by  occasionally  examining  the  vines,  so  united,  the 
proper  time  for  the  several  steps  to  be  taken.  Eight  ex- 
periments, made  in  my  grounds  under  glass  or  in  the  open 
air,  proved  to  be  eight  successes,  although  it  was  not  only 
too  late  in  the  season  when  they  were  made,  but  the 
stocks  as  well  as  the  other  vines  were  growing  poorly. 
Some  of  them  were  not  thicker  than  a  middle-sized  knit- 
ting needle  ;  consequently  they  could  not  be  tongued,  but 
were  only  wounded  and  tied  together.  The  union  in  all 
of  them  is  perfect;  after  the  lapse  of  a  year  or  two  it  will 
be  impossible  to  distinguish  it. 

If  it  is  true,  as  I  believe  from  actual  experience,  that  the 
cause  of  the  failure  of  many  kinds  lies  in  the  root,  inarch- 
ing will  be  a  means  of  making  feeble  growing  vines  strong ; 
perhaps  even  some  of  the  hardier  foreigners  may,  in  this 
way,  be  inured  to  our  changeable' climate.  It  is  impossi- 
ble for  me  to  make,  in  the  course  of  this  spring  and  sum- 
mer, as  many  and  as  extensive  experiments  as  I  intended  ; 
still,  from  what  I  know  already,  I  am  confident  of  great 
advantages  to  be  derived  from  this  process.  We  would 
bring  this  method  of  propagation    to  the    attention  of 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  115 

horticulturists,  feeling  that  it  has  heretofore  been  unduly 
neglected. 

IV.— BY   SEEDS. 

As  no  plant  is  more  apt  to  sport  than  the  vine,  when 
grown  from  the  seed,  this  method  of  propagation  must  be 
resorted  to  in  order  to  raise  varieties  different  from  those 
already  in  existence. 

The  best  and  ripest  berries  are  selected,  and  either 
immediately  planted,  whole,  about  half  an  inch  or  an  inch 
deep,  and  protected  by  leaves,  moss,  or  straw,  from  too  se- 
vere freezing,  or  they  may  be  dried  without  artificial  heat, 
and  the  seeds  may  be  taken  out  in  the  spring  and  planted. 
The  plan  adopted  by  me  is,  to  separate  the  seeds  from 
the  pulp,  as  soon  as  the  berries  are  ripe,  and  to  plant  them 
in  pots,  filled  with  light,  but  fertile  soil,  which  I  keep  during 
the  winter  in  the  cellar,  sprinkling  several  times  with  a 
little  water.  In  the  month  of  March  following  I  place  the 
pots  in  a  window  of  a  warm  room,  or  plunge  them  in  a 
hot  or  propagating  bed,  watering  them  regularly.  The 
seeds,  separated  from  the  pulp,  may  also  be  kept  in  papers 
and  planted  in  the  following  spring  in  pots  or  in  the  open 
air.  To  shade  the  young  plants  a  little,  when  they  are 
growing  in  the  open  air,  is  very  beneficial.  A.  S.  Fuller 
sows,  for  this  purpose,  apple  seeds  along  with  the  grape 
seeds,  or  in  a  row,  immediately  before  them  to  the  south. 
The  young  apple  trees  do  not  make  many  fibrous  roots 
the  first  year ;  they  do  not,  therefore,  interfere  with  the 
vines,  but  afford  them  shade,  and,  in  a  measure,  support. 
That  the  young  plants  must  be  watered  in  dry  weather, 
and  that  they  must  be  kept  clean,  need  not  expressly  be 
recommended. 

In  the  autumn,  after  the  fall  of  the  leaf,  they  are  to  be 
taken  up  and  heeled-in,  which  is  more  advisable  than  to 
cover  them  up,  as  the  frost  would  heave  them  up  more  or 


110  THE    GRAPE    VIXE. 

less,  and  would  break  many  of  their  roots.  In  the  spring 
their  roots  are  shortened  a  little,  they  are  pruned  down  to 
the  lowest  good  bud,  and  planted  in  furrows  several  inches 
dee]).  In  the  course  of  the  summer  the  furrows  are  filled 
up.  The  young  plants  are  then  treated  exactly  like  other 
young  vines.  They  will  bear  in  the  fifth  year,  but  some 
of  them  will  do  so  in  the  third  or  fourth,  others  in  the  sixth 
or  seventh  years. 

When  whole  berries  are  planted,  young  plants  will  come 
up,  not  only  in  the  first  spring  after  planting,  but  also  in 
the  second  and  third,  as  stated  by  Mr.  E.  Bull,  of  Con- 
cord, Mass.,  the  originator  of  the  Concord.  Therefore, 
in  lifting  young  plants  grown  from  planting  whole  ber- 
ries in  the  first  fall,  care  should  be  taken  to  disturb  the 
soil  as  little  as  possible. 

The  process  of  raising  vines  from  seed  is  very  tedious, 
and  unsatisfactory  in  its  results.  The  seeds  from  Ameri- 
can varieties  produce  a  large  proportion  of  male  (stami- 
nate)  plants ;  they  often  are,  and  that  is  the  rule,  inferior 
to  the  parent.  In  five  thousand  seedlings,  raised  at  one 
time  by  Dr.  Grant,  there  were  but  two  worthy  to  be  pre- 
served, the  Iona  and  the  Israella.  Among  five  hundred 
seedlings  from  the  Isabella  which  I  have  grown,  there  is 
but  one  better  than  the  mother  plant.  A  most  excellent 
white  grape  from  a  seed  of  a  Crimean  grape,  which  is  per- 
fectly hardy  and  vigorous  in  my  grounds,  is  the  result  from 
planting  but  two  seeds.  This  is,  however,  so  rare  an  ac- 
cident that  it  may  not  happen  again  in  a  century.  A  full 
description  of  the  grape  in  question  is  given  by  me  in  the 
Gardener's  Monthly,  I860,  pp.  291  and  292.  The  plant 
and  the  fruit  have  been  carefully  examined  by  many  con- 
noisseurs and  experienced  vine-growers.  They  all  unite  in 
the  belief  that  the  vine  is  thoroughly  healthy  and  vigorous, 
and  "  that  the  fruit  is  most  excellent"  to' use  the  words  of 
the  Agriculturist  in  an  editorial  notice  of  it.  See  Agricul- 
turist, I860,  p.  438. 


THE    GEAPE    VIXE.  11? 

HYBRIDIZATION. 

There  is  a  difference  between  hybridization  and  cross- 
ing, but  as  my  object  is  not  to  enter  here  into  scientific 
disquisitions,  I  will  describe,  as  briefly  as  possible,  the  mode 
of  the  operation  itself.  Moreover  we  know  that  the  species 
are  not  constant,  but  variable. 

The  petals  (floral  leaves)  of  a  vine  blossom  are  five  in 
number,  cohering  and  thrown  off  by  the  stamens  when 
the  blossom  is  expanding.  They  look  then  like  a  cap. 
The  fine  stamens  bear  on  their  summits  the  anthers, 
little  bodies  covered  with  a  fine  powder  or  dust,  called 
pollen.  While  the  petals  are  raised  by  the  stamens,  fruc- 
tification frequently  takes  place  before  the  petals  are 
thrown  off.  This  fructification  is  effected  by  the  pollen, 
coming  in  contact  with  the  upper  end  of  the  pistil.  The 
pistil  excretes  a  somewhat  viscid  matter  on  its  upper  end, 
to  which  the  dust  of  the  pollen  adheres.  It  is  then  carried 
down  into  the  ovarium,  the  lower  part  of  the  |)istil.  In 
this  way  fructification  is  acconrplished.  A  small  berry  is 
formed  which  enlarges  daily  until  it  attains  its  proper 
size.  A  blossom  not  impregnated  by  the  pollen,  does  not 
develop  itself;  it  remains  diminutive. 

To  prevent  natural  fructification  the  blossoms  must  be 
carefully  watched.  As  soon  as  some  of  them  have  opened 
on  a  certain  cluster  selected  for  artificial  fructification, 
they  are  cut  off  with  scissors,  together  with  a  number  of  the 
remaining  buds  to  diminish  the  number.  This  not  only 
facilitates  the  operation,  but  tends  to  develop  those  remain- 
ing much  better.  The  petals  of  the  buds  left  are  then  ex- 
amined with  a  needle;  they  are  lifted  and  removed. 
Should  they  not  yield,  they  must  remain  undisturbed  for 
an  hour,  or  long  enough  for  their  removal.  Should  any 
blossoms  expand  during  the  absence  of  the  operator,  they 
must  be  carefully  cut  off,  lest  some  of  the  pollen  of  their 
stamens  might  reach  the  pistils  of  other  blossoms  already 


118  THE    GRAPE    TINE. 

operated  upon,  thus  rendering  the  experiment  uncertain 
and  unreliable. 

Pollen  of  the  species  or  variety  to  be  used  for  the  male, 
is  then  taken  up  by  means  of  a  fine  camels-hair  painter's 
brush,  and  dusted  by  shaking  or  gently  tapping  the  handle 
of  the  brush.  This  must  be  repeated  several  times  on  the 
same  blossom.  If  the  first  operation  was  performed  in 
the  forenoon,  it  ought  to  be  repeated  in  the  afternoon. 
Calm  and  warm  weather  is  most  favorable  for  this  work. 
To  enclose  the  clusters  with  thin  gauze  to  prevent  the  in- 
terference of  insects  and  wind,  until  the  berries  begin  to 
swell,  is  certainly  a  very  good  plan. 

It  is  not  often  the  case  that  the  species  or  varieties, 
intended  for  hybridization,  blossom  at  the  same  time,  but 
the  plant  to  be  used  as  the  male  parent  usually  blooms 
earlier  than  the  other.  Some  pollen  is  then  shaken  from  a 
cluster,  it  being  in  the  right  condition,  upon  a  piece  of  pa- 
per, and  preserved  in  a  tightly  corked  phial  until  wanted. 
Dubreuil  asserts  that  pollen  from  some  plants,  preserved 
between  two  watch  glasses,  united  and  glued  together  by 
means  of  small  pieces  of  paper,  will  not  lose  its  vital 
power  in  the  course  of  a  whole  year.  I  do  not  think, 
however,  that  watch  glasses  are  any  better  than  tightly 
corked  and  sealed  phials.  Mr.  Hovey,  of  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  fertilized  his  lily,  Melpomene,  with  pollen  from  the 
auratum,  when  it  bloomed  for  the  first  time  in  England, 
and  obtained  crosses  which  were  in  bloom  last  summer, 
showing  unmistakably  that  hybridization  had  been  accom- 
plished. That  the  pollen  from  vines  remains  good  for  a 
month,  I  know  from  actual  experiments,  and  I  do  not 
doubt  in  the  least  that  it  will  keep  much  longer. 

Hybridization  offers  a  wide  field  for  improving  our  na- 
tive kinds.  As  yet,  our  best  grapes  are  chance  seedlings ; 
still  the  experiments  made  by  Messrs.  Allen,  Moore  and 
Cay  wood,  are  encouraging,  though  effective  hybridization 
is  doubted  by  many.     The  criterion  of  Mr.  A.  S.  Fuller  is 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  119 

a  very  good  one,  indeed,  viz. :  To  sow  the  seeds  from  a 
plant  claimed  to  be  a  hybrid,  and  to  ascertain  whether 
the  young  plants  sport  much,  some  showing  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  father,  others  those  of  the  mother.  Should 
they  cdl  be  similar  to  each  other,  the  probability  would  be 
that  hybridization  had  not  been  effected. 

Two  years  ago,  I  called  the  attention  of  my  friend,  Dr. 
Thurber,  the  scientific  botanist,  to  eleven  seedlings  from 
Allen's  Hybrid.  They  are  so  much  alike,  and  so  similar 
in  their  relation  to  the  parent,  that  he  was  very  much  aston- 
ished at  the  fact  before  him.  On  the  other  hand,  of  the 
five  hundred  seedlings  from  the  Isabella,  raised  by  me, 
no  two  were  alike  in  regard  to  lobation,  growth,  etc. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  experiments  in  this  direction  ought 
to  be  continued  with  assiduity  and  zeal ;  results  will  ulti- 
mately be  reached,  that  will  benefit  the  country  in  a  high 
degree. 

Here  I  will  mention,  in  conclusion,  that  Kallmann's 
Cibebe,  the  most  beautiful  of  all  grapes  in  form,  is  the  pro- 
duct of  an  intentional,  artificial  crossing  of  the  large  yel- 
low from  Smyrna  and  the  Muscat  Schwarz-Welscher,  ob- 
tained by  the  great  ornithologist,  Naumann,  late  Professor 
in  the  University  of  Leipsic.  Mr.  Neubert,  of  that  city, 
made  me  a  present  of  it. 

HINTS   ON   THE   GENERAL    MANAGEMENT  OF 
AMERICAN  SPECIES  AND  VARIETIES. 

I.— PLANTING. 

For  planting,  the  fall  is  preferred  by  many,  the  spring 
by  others.  To  protect  the  vines,  regularly  planted  in  the 
fall,  from  freezing  and  thawing  during  the  winter,  as  well 
as  from  the  water  accumulating  in  the  holes  and  forming 
ice  in  them,  is  much  more  difficult  than  to  heel  them  in, 
and  to  preserve  them  in  this  way.     On  the  other  hand, 


120  THE    GRAPE   VINE. 

there  is  so  much  work  to  be  done  in  the  spring,  that  there 
is  danger  of  hastening  the  planting  too  much,  although 
this  process  is  so  important  that  it  is  impossible  to  do  it 
too  carefully.  No  mistake,  made  in  planting,  can  after- 
wards be  corrected. 

I  have  made  many  experiments,  and  have  met  with  so 
many  failures  and  disappointments  from  fall  planting  in 
this  latitude,  that  I  buy  such  vines  as  I  intend  to  try  in 
the  fall,  but  I  always  plant  them  in  the  spring.  Buying 
in  the  fall  is  advisable,  as  a  better  selection  can  be  made, 
hut  planting  in  the  spring  is  surer  of  success. 

Heeling-in  is  an  operation  so  well  known,  that  I  need 
not  describe  it  here.  Should  the  ground  be  stiff  and 
heavy,  it  is  much  better  to  lay  the  plants  against  a  little 
mound  in  a  slanting  position  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth  than  in  a  ditch,  in  which  the  water  would  collect 
during  the  winter.  Sand  or  fine  soil  ought  to  be  used 
for  filling  in  among  the  roots.  This  must  be  done  so 
carefully  that  even  the  smallest  rootlet  is  embedded  in, 
and  covered  by,  the  sand  or  soil ;  for  mould  will  grow 
on  roots  not  packed  firmly  in  sand  or  «oil.  Soil  may 
be  used  for  increasing  the  thickness  of  the  mound,  cov- 
ering the  roots,  and  some  boards  may  be  placed  on  the 
top  of  it  to  carry  off  the  rain  water,  and  to  prevent  the 
sun  from  warming  the  plants,  so  heeled  in,  too  much. 
As  the  frost  acts  horizontally  also — to  speak  not  scientifi- 
cally, but  practically — the  covering  ought  to  extend  about 
two  feet  beyond  the  ends  of  the  roots.  In  heeling-in  I 
always  cover  the  whole  plants,  roots  and  all. 

Vines  keep  very  well  in  boxes,  filled  with  sand,  that  are 
placed  in  the  cellar,  or  they  may  be  covered  with  sand  in 
the  cellar  without  boxes. 

Spring  planting  ought  to  be  deferred  till  air  and  soil  are 
sufficiently  wanned,  that  is,  from  the  middle  to  the  end 
of  April.  Should  the  buds  have  commenced  showing  life 
again,  it  is  so  much  the  better. 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  121 

The  roots  of  the  plants  must  Ite  carefully  examined,  in 
order  to  cut  off  such  as  are  bruised  or  broken.  To  shorten 
them  a  little,  to  have  fresh  cuts  on  all  of  them,  is  judicious, 
but  to  remove  one-half  or  two-thirds  of  them,  involves  an 
injurious  waste  of  strength.  Finally,  the  vines  must  be 
cut  down  to  the  lowest  well-developed  bud.  There  is 
then  no  danger  arising  from  bleeding. 

The  holes  for  the  plants  ought  to  be  large  enough  for 
the  reception  of  the  roots  in  their  natural  position,  and 
about  a  foot  deep.  Then  some  fine  soil  is  heaped  up  in 
the  middle  of  each;  resembling  a  mole  heap,  but  more 
pointed  and  conical.  On  the  top  of  this  heap  the  young 
plant  is  placed,  and  its  roots  are  spread  out  evenly,  and 
properly  arranged  for  making  them  grow  in  all  directions. 
Fine  soil  is  then  sprinkled  or  sifted  on  them  until  they  are 
well  covered.  Then  some  water  must  be  poured  on  through 
the  rose  of  a  watering-pot,  that  the  soil  may  settle,  and 
the  holes  fill  with  soil,  leaving  a  space  of  about  four 
inches  open  during  the  summer.  Rain  showers  will  carry 
some  soil  into  them,  and  fill  them  up  partially,  which  is 
not  injurious  to  the  growth  of  the  young  plants.  In  the 
fall  some  more  soil  must  be  added  to  make  them  level. 

The  roots  ought  to  be  four  or  six  inches  below  the 
ground,  at  least  deep  enough  not  to  be  injured  by  hoeing, 
digging,  or  plowing,  but  not  too  deep,  as  it  is  customary 
with  some.  The  depth  to  which  the  soil  is  to  be  worked 
afterward  is  the  surest  guide  ;  the  roots  should,  under  all 
circumstances,  be  beyond  the  reach  of  the  implements  to 
be  used.  If  the  vines  are  to  be  layered  during  one  or 
more  successive  years,  to  furnish  them  with  more  roots, 
they  must  not  be  planted  in  an  erect,  but  in  an  inclined 
position,  (at  an  angle  of  about  45°),  otherwise  it  is  not 
unfrequently  difficult  to  bend  them  down  and  to  lay  them 
in  a  ditch,  made  for  this  purpose. 

The  management  of  plants  having  more  than  one  tier 
of  roots,  or  of  such  as  are  older,  does  not  differ  in  princi- 
6 


122  THE    GRAPE   VINE. 

pie  from  that  of  young  plants.  Its  modification,  according 
to  circumstances,  will  be  obvious  to  any  one  intending  to 
plant  them.  The  long,  woody  roots  of  old  vines  must  be 
very  severely  pruned;  they  ought  to  be  out  off  below  a 
thin  succulent  root,  proceeding  from  them,  and  the  cut 
ought  to  be  made  at  its  underside,  so  that  the  wound  may 
be  pressed  on  the  soil  below.  If  cut  at  the  upperside,  it 
will  be  apt  to  decay  from  the  water  falling  or  trickling 
down  upon  it. 

The  plan  of  mulching  vines,  recently  planted,  is  a  good 
one;  to  manure,  however,  the  soil  below  or  about  their 
roots  cannot  be  too  strongly  denounced  ns  injurious  and 
dangerous  in  the  highest  degree.  Many  vines  are  killed 
every  year,  or  ruined  beyond  the  possibility  of  recovery, 
by  well-meaning,  but  inexperienced  persons.  While  they 
would  withhold  fat  pork  or  beef  from  a  patient  when  con- 
valescent, and  yet  feeble  in  consequence  of  a  severe  shock, 
to  which  their  health  was  exposed,  they  do  not  hesitate  to 
treat  a  vine,  in  a  similar  condition,  with  a  superabundance 
of  heavy,  indigestible  food.  Can  anything  be  more  incon- 
sistent ? 

II.— PKUNING. 

The  principles  of  pruning  as  practised  in  Europe,  and 
so  lucidly  explained  by  Dr.  Mohr,  are  undoubtedly  cor- 
rect. Still,  even  in  Europe,  different  countries  require 
modifications  in  the  application  of  them.  This  is  also  the 
case  in  the  United  States.  The  climate  is  warm  during 
the  summer ;  we  have  twice  as  much  rain  as  in  France, 
and  much  more  when  we  compare  the  quantity  of  rain 
which  falls  here,  with  that  which  is  received  in  California, 
where  the  temperature  is  very  high.  TJien  again,  we  have 
severe  droughts  with  so  small  an  amount  of  water  in  the 
air,  that  it  is  almost  incredible.  See  the  thoroughly  sci- 
entific observations  of  J.  S.  Lippincott,'Rsc\.,\\\  the  Re- 
port  of  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  1SG3,  pp.  520- 


THE    GRAPE    VIXE.  123 

550.  His.  Vapor  Index,  for  sale  by  J.  W.  Queen,  924 
Chestnut  street,  Philadelphia,  is  a  most  ingenious  and 
convenient  instrument  for  ascertaining  at  a  glance  the 
amount  of  aqueous  vapor  in  the  atmosphere,  or  in  a  room, 
provided  a  wet  bulb  thermometer  in  connection  with  a 
dry  bulb  thermometer  can  be  consulted. 

The  conditions  of  our  climate  favor  a  rampant  wood- 
growth  ;  consequently  Ave  must  not  prune  too  short  to  in- 
sure the  health  of  the  vine,  and  to  obtain  abundant  crops. 

There  is  another  consideration  of  vital  importance,  to 
which  I  wish  to  call  the  attention  of  every  horticulturist 
most  earnestly.  It  lies  in  the  fact  that  some  hinds  have 
their  Fruit  shoots  on  the  upper  part  of  the  cane,  others  on 
the  lower  part.  My  friend,  Wm.  Saunders,  Esq.,  the  emi- 
nently able  Superintendent  of  the  Experimental  Garden 
at  Washington,  cautions,  on  p.  15  of  the  Agricultural  Re- 
port of  18G5,  against  the  close  pruning  of  such  rampant 
growers  as  the  Clinton,  Taylor-,  Alvey,  Franklin,  etc., 
asserting  that  they  will  bear  profusely  when  but  slightly 
pruned  back;  otherwise  a  mass  of  wood  will  be  produced. 
This  was  incontrovertibly  proven  on  my  grounds  last 
year.  An  Alvey  that  had  borne  abundantly  the  year 
previous,  was  primed  too  close  by  a  friend  of  mine,  a 
skillful  and  experienced  viticulturist.  The  result  was  ex- 
actly in  accordance  with  Mr.  Saunders'  statement ;  the  vine 
in  question,  which  was  loaded  with  fruit  the  year  previous, 
bore  not  more  than  half-a-dozen  clusters   last  year. 

It  is  not  always  without  danger  to  recommend  a  single 
modification  of  the  pruning  principle  as  applicable  to 
every  variety.  We  know  that  certain  kinds  of  the  apple, 
pear,  etc.,  require  different  treatment  in  this  respect ;  how 
could  it  be  expected,  then,  that  all  kinds  of  the  vine  should 
be  alike  ? 

What  is  most  needed,  therefore,  is,  to  ascertain  whether 
the  lower  buds  of  the  canes  of  certain  varieties  produce 
bearing  shoots,  or  those   more  distant  from  the  bases  of 


124  THE    GRAPE    VINE. 

the  canes.  The  true  method  of  pruning  them  will  be  the 
result,  so  much  desired. 

George  Husmann,  'Esq.,  of  Hermann,  Missouri,  dis- 
covered accidentally  that  the  laterals  of  the  Concord  and 
other  strong  growing  varieties,  when  pruned  in  the  fall  to 
four  or  six  buds,  produce  the  finest  clusters  and  the  most 
abundant  crops  to  be  obtained.  This  took  place  in  186.2. 
See  the  Cultivation  of  the  Native  Grape,  by  George 
Husmann,  p.  Gl.  Since  then  he  has  adopted  it  altogether 
for  such  varieties  as  mentioned,  with  the  most  satisfactory 
result.  He  suffers  the  shoots  intended  for  bearing  canes 
to  grow  about  four  feet  high,  and  then  removes  their  tops 
by  pinching.  He  retains  four  or  five  laterals,  which  he 
prunes,  in  the  fall,  to  four  or  six  buds. 

This  is  important ;  experiments  should  be  made  to  as- 
certain accurately  the  varieties  most  adapted  to  this  mode 
of  treatment,  and  the  localities  favorable  to  it. 

The  correctness  of  Mr.  Husmann'' s  observations  is 
corroborated  by  the  results  of  similar  experiments  inten- 
tionally made  in  Germany,  as  early  as  1857.  They  are 
mentioned  and  described  by  Dr.  JEJ.  Lucas,  the  celebrated 
scientific  and  practical  Pomologist  and  Director  of  the 
Pomological  Institute  at  Meuttingen,  in  the  Kingdom  of 
JVurtemberg.  In  his  Annual  for  Pomologists,  Garden- 
ers, etc.,  published  in  18G0,  from  pp.  59-61,  he  gives  a  de- 
tailed "description  of  the  successful  experiments  of  Mr. 
Deuringer,  of  Sendling,  near  Munich,  in  Bavaria  ;  they 
are  exactly  like  those  made  by  Mr.  Husmann,  except  that 
Mr.  Deuringer  suffered  the  shoots  intended  for  canes  to 
grow  five  or  six  feet  high  before  he  stopped  them,  in  order 
to  excite  the  growth  of  the  laterals. 

Mr.  Deuringer 's  experiments  are  based  on  reasoning 
concerning  the  proper  function  of  the  laterals  ;  he  invented 
his  method,  while  Mr.  Husmann  discovered  it. 

Mr.  Ifusmami's  personal  character  is  so  well  known, 
and  deservedly  stands  so  high,  that  I  am  very  far  from  at- 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  125 

tempting  to  insinuate  that  he  was  acquainted  with  Mr. 
Beuringefs  operations.  The  Annual  is  so  rare,  that  it  may 
be  doubtful  whether  there  exists  another  copy  of  it  in  the 
United  States  than  the  one  in  my  possession.  The  coinci- 
dence goes  only  to  show  how  difficult  it  is  in  horticulture 
to  add  anything  not  already  known  to  somebody  else  to 
the  stock  of  facts. 

Young  plants  must,  at  the  fall  pruning,  be  cut  down  to 
the  lowest  well-developed  bud,  that  is,  to  the  first,  second, 
or  third.  During  the  first  summer  they  must  not  be  tied 
to  stakes,  nor  pinched.  When  trailing  on  the  ground  or 
climbing  over  some  brushwood  placed  near  them,  the 
upper  tendency  of  the  sap,  common  to  most  plants,  and 
especially  strong  in  the  vine,  is,  in  a  measure,  counteracted, 
by  which  the  root  is  very  much  strengthened.  Also  in  the 
second  year  I  treat  them  in  this  way.  The  treatment  of 
older  vines  must  be  the  same  as  that  of  plants  but  one 
year  old. 

Before  the  vines  attain  the  thickness  of  a  finger,  they 
must  not  be  pruned  long  for  bearing,  but  must  be  cut 
down  in  every  successive  fall. 

III.—  PINCHING. 

The  shoots  for  bearing  canes  must  not  be  pinched  or 
stopped  at  all  during  their  growth,  and  their  laterals  must 
be  permitted  to  develop  at  will.  In  regard  to  the  bearing 
shoots,  it  is  doubtful  to  me  whether  close  pinching,  that  is, 
beyond,  or  at  the  third  leaf  from  the  last  cluster,  is  advan- 
tageous in  this  country  or  not.  Apart  from  the  practice, 
growing  more  into  favor  every  da}',  according  to  which 
the  shoots  are  left  longer,  and  are,  perhaps,  pinched  but 
once  during  the  season,  I  am  free  to  confess  that  I  have 
done  so  much  orthodox  pinching,  but  with  results  so  little 
satisfactory  to  my  expectation,  that  I  feel  strongly  inclined 
to  indulge  in  a  little  greater  latitude  in  this  respect  than 
formerly.     Experiments,  instituted  on  purpose,  and  varied 


126  THE    GRArE    VINE. 

as  to  varieties,  sorts,  and  localities,  are  very  much  needed; 
they  will  enable  ns  to  arrive  at  the  true  method. 

That  the  laterals  of  young  plants,  or  of  older  ones  trans- 
planted, must  not  be  pinched,  has  already  been  observed 
in  the  above. 

IV.— COVERING   IN    THE    FALL,  AND   LIFTING   IN   THE  FOL- 
LOWING SPRING. 

In  this  extreme  climate  it  is  reasonable  to  lay  the  vines 
down  on  the  ground  and  to  cover  them,  especially  such 
kinds  as  are  tender.  Still,  all  kinds  are  benefited  by  this 
process. 

Sand  or  sandy  soil  is  a  good  material  for  covering ;  stiff 
clay  is  objectionable.  On  the  sand,  flat  stones  are  placed 
to  keep  the  vines  in  place. 

Some  use  straw,  manure,  sods,  and  stones,  without  soil 
or  sand,  for  covering  ;  these  materials,  however,  ought  to  be 
avoided.  They  leave  everywhere  empty  spaces,  in  which 
mice  find  shelter.  Mice  are  pests  in  a  plantation  of  vines. 
Manure  is  apt  to  ferment,  by  which  process  the  vines  may 
be  excited  to  a  premature  growth  under  the  cover,  and 
consequently  they  may  greatly  suffer  or  even  perish. 

A  very  good  covering  material  is  dust  (refuse)  of  hard 
(Anthracite)  coal.  I  have  used  it  for  a  number  of  years 
with  decided  benefit,  so  that  I  shall  not  use  anything  else 
for  the  future.  No  mould  is  formed  on  the  vines,  so  cov- 
ered, nor  do  mice  or  other  animals  harbor  in  it. 

As  soon  as  the  frost  is  fairly  out  of  the  ground  in  the 
Spring,  that  is,  in  the  first  weeks  of  April,  the  vines  must 
be  freed  from  .their  covering  and  left  for  a  certain  time  to 
swing  in  the  air,  before  they  are  tied  to  their  poles  or 
trellises. 

The  rule  ought  never  to  be  lost  sight  of,  neither  to  cover 
too  early,  that  is,  not  before  the  soil  is  frozen,  nor  to  lift  too 
early. 

Sheltering  the  vines  by  boards  nailed  on  the  top  of  the 


THE    GRAPE    VINE.  127 

trellis  posts  tends  to  protect  them  against  the  attacks  of 
mildew,  according  to  Mr.  Saunders'  experience.  Such 
partial  roofs  render  radiation  beneath  them  impossible, 
so  that  the  vines,  as  well  as  the  soil,  remain  warmer  than 
without  protection.  Dr.  Schroeder,  of  Bloomingtoris  Illi- 
nois^ mulches  his  vines  four  or  six  inches  deep  with  straw, 
after  they  had  ceased  blossoming.  Vines,  so  treated,  were 
free  from  mildew,  and  the  grapes  did  not  rot. 

I  might  devote  here  some  space  to   insects  and  other 
animals,  injurious  to  the  vine;  but  as  I  could  hardly  do' 
more  than  repeat  what  is  found  in  many  books,  I  forego 
it.     The  chief  remedy  lies  in  the  hand  of  the  vine  grower ; 
thrips  yield  only  to  the  application  of  sulphur. 

AMERICAN  VARIETIES. 

It  would  not  only  be  almost  impossible,  but  also  use- 
less, to  give  here  a  complete  list  of  native  grapes ;  both 
the  amateur  and  the  professional  grape  grower  will 
resort  to  other  sources  for  their  information  on  this  point, 
not  to  this  book.  We  mention  here  only  the  most  valuable 
kinds,  nearly  all  of  which  we  have  tested  in  our  own 
grounds,  following  chiefly  the  American  Horticultural 
Annual"  for  1867,  without  even  changing  the  wording  of 
many  descriptions ;  for  they  are  very  concise  and  charac- 
teristic. 

\  (I  iron  (lac . — Black.  A  good  and  healthy  grower  in  our 
grounds.     Fruit  very  fine,  sweet  and  luscious. 

Allen's  Hybrid. — White.  Tolerably  healthy  with  us, 
sweet  and  vinous. 

Alvey. — Black.  A  vigorous,  healthy  grower;  suffers 
very  little  from  mildew ;  juice  colored ;  skin  exceedingly 
thin ;  without  pulp.  Ripens  in  September.  It  improves 
very  much  by  hanging  long  on  the  vine,  from  which  it 
never  drops.     Vinous,  sprightly  and  refreshing. 


128  THE    GRAPE    VINE.       ' 

Anna. — White.  A  poor  bearer  and  grower  with  us. 
High  flavored,  tough  pulp. 

Catawba. — Red.  Too  well  known  to  need  description. 
Is  doing  well  in  our  grounds. 

Clinton. — Black.  A  healthy,  rampant  grower.  Colors 
long  before  it  is  ripe.  Not  fit  for  the  table,  but  good  for 
wine. 

Concord, — Black.     Known  as  the  grape  for  the  million. 

Crevelillg'. — Black.  Good  healthy  grower.  Hardy  and 
very  early.     Cluster  loose.     Very  valuable. 

Delaware. — Red.  Delicious.  A  good,  not  a  rampant 
grower.     Hardy,  but  mildews  in  some  localities. 

Diana. — Red.  Does  very  well  with  us,  but  is  not  to  be 
depended  upon  in  some  localities.  High  flavored  and 
sweet.     Skin  very  thick.     Keeps  well. 

Diana  Hamburg.— Black.  A  delicious  grape,  but  said 
to  be  late. 

Elsinburgi — Black.  Very  fine  and  hardy  grape.  Very 
small,  clusters  large. 

Hartford  Prolific— Black.  Very  early,  vigorous,  hardy. 
Sweet,  tough,  acid  pulp.     Drops  from  the  peduncle. 

Hcrbcmontt — Black.  Very  small,  clusters  large ;  vinous 
and  excellent,  but  late. 

Iona. — Red.  Healthy  in  many  localities,  in  others  it 
suffers  from  mildew.  Fruit  praised  in  every  respect  for 
table  and  wine. 

Isabella.— Black.  Known  everywhere.  Very  variable 
and  uncertain.     . 

Israella. — Black.     Good  and  early  grape. 

Ives'  Seedlings — Black.     Highly  praised  for  wine. 

Lydia. — White.     Hardy  and  early;  promises  very  well. 

Martha. — White.  A  white  Concord,  but  sweeter.  Very 
vigorous  and  healthy. 


THE    GRAPE   VINE.  129 

Maxatawney. — White.  Vigorous  and  healthy,  but  late. 
When  thoroughly  ripe  it  is  a  fine  grape. 

MilCS. — Black.  Very  early  and  better  than  Hartford 
Prolific. 

Norton's  Virginia. — Black.  Known  and  praised  as  the 
best  grape  for  red  wine. 

Rebecca. — White.  Very  fine,  but  a  poor  grower  on  its 
own  roots.  Should  be  grafted  on  the  roots  of  some  vigorous 
variety. 

Rogers'  Hybrids,— Black,  red,  and  amber.  Most  of 
them  vigorous^growers  and  healthy.  Berries  and  clusters 
in  some  of  them  very  large  and  fine.  The  following  are 
known  as  very  valuable :  Nos.  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  9,  15,  19,  22, 
30,  33,  43,  44. 

To  It  a  Ion. — Black.  Healthy  with  us,  but  a  poor  bearer ; 
excellent. 

Union  Village. — Black.  Very  large  and  showy;  of  fair 
quality.     A  good  grower  with  us. 

Walter. — Red.  Very  sweet  and  high  flavored;  very 
early. 

Weehawken. — White.  A  most  remarkable  seedling  of 
ours,  raised  from  a  seed  of  a  Crimean  variety,  imported  by 
us.  The  most  healthy  of  all  our  vines.  Cluster  beautiful ; 
vinous,  high  flavored.  Never  mildewed.  Not  yet  dis- 
seminated. 


6* 


THE 
HIT 


i  i 


x  wi  XI  X)  x  o.  jt\ 

IflVAlBIs 


ANDREW  g.  FULLER, 


NEW     AND      ENLARGED      EDITION. 


THE    STANDARD    WORK 

ON    THE     CULTIVATION     OF    THE     HARDY    GRAPE, 

AS    IT    NOT    ONLY    DISCUSSES    PRINCIPLES, 

BUT 

ILLUSTRATES    PRACTICE. 

Every   tiling    is   made   perfectly  plain,  and.   its    teach- 
ings   may    be    followed,    -upon 

ONE     VINE     OR    A    VINEYARD. 


The  following  are  some  of  the  topics  that  are  treo-**xd, 

Growing  Xew  Varieties  from  Seed. 

Propagation  by  Single  Buds  or  Eyes. 

Propagating  Houses  and  their  Management  fully  descripeo.. 

How  to  Grow. 

Cuttings  in  Open  Air,  and  how  to  Make  Layers. 

Grafting  the  Grape — A  Simple  and  Successful  Method. 

Hybridizing  and  Crossing — Mode  of  Operation. 

Soil  and  Situation — Planting  and  Cultivation. 

Pruning,  Training,  and  Trellises — all  the  Systems  Explains^ 

Garden  Culture — How  to  Grow  Vines  in  a  Door- Yard. 

Insects,  Mildew,  Sun-Scald,  and  other  Troubles. 

Description  of  the  Valuable  a>d  the  Discarded  Varieties. 


Sent  post-paid.     Price  $1.50. 


Orange    Judd.    <Sc    Co.,    4rl    Park    Row. 


MY  VINEYARD  AT  LAKEVIEW; 

OR, 

SUCCESSFUL    GEAPE    CULTUBE. 

BY   A   WESTERN   GRAPE   GROWER. 

ILLUSTRATED. 

To  any  one  who  wishes  to  grow  grapes,  whether  a  single  vine  or  a  vine- 
yard, this  book  is  full  of  valuable  teachings.  The  author  gives  not  only  his 
success,  but,  what  is  of  quite  as  much  importance,  his  failure.  It  tells  just 
what  the  beginner  in  grape  culture  wishes  to  know,  with  the  charm  that 
always  attends  the  relation  of  personal  experience. 

It  is  especially  valuable  as  giving  an  account  of  the  processes  actually 
followed  in 

CELEBRATED    GRAPE    REGIONS 

in  Western  New-York  and  on  the  shores  and  islands  of  Lake  Erie. 

This  book  is  noticed  by  a  writer  in  the  Horticulturist  for  August  last  as 
follows  :  "  Two  works  very  different  in  character  and  value  have  just  been 
published,  and  seem  to  demand  a  passing  notice.  The  better  and  less  pre- 
tentious of  the  two  is  '  My  Vineyard  at  Lakeview,'  a  charming  little  book 
that  professes  to  give  the  actual  experience  of  a  western  grape  grower,  de- 
tailing not  only  his  successes,  but  his  blunders  and  failures.  It  is  written 
in  a  pleasant  style,  without  any  attempt  at  display,  and  contains  much  ad- 
vice that  will  prove  useful  to  a  beginner — the  more  useful  because  derived 
from  the  experience  of  a  man  who  had  no  leisure  for  fanciful  experiments, 
but  has  been  obliged  to  make  his  vineyard  support  himself  and  his  family." 


Written  in  a  simple  and  attractive  style,  and  relating  the  experience  of  one  who  felt 
his  way  along  into  the  successful  cultivation  of  a  vineyard  in  Ohio. — Mass.  Ploughman. 

It  is  the  experience  of  a  practical  grape  grower,  and  not  the  theory  of  an  experi- 
menter.— Bath  Daily  Sentinel  and  Times. 

It  has  no  superior  as  an  attractive  narrative  of  country  life.— Hartford  Daily  Post. 

Many  book3  have  been  written  on  the  grape,  but  this  is  the  only  work  that  gives  an 
account  of  grape  growing  as  actually  practiced  at  the  successful  vineyards  in  the  grape 
region  of  the  West,  and  will  be  welcomed  by  a  large  class  of  readers.— New-Bedford 
Standard. 

This  little  volume  contains,  in  an  attractive  form,  and  in  clear  and  concise  language, 
just  the  information  needed  to  enable  any  one  to  become  thoroughly  posted  up  in  this 
delightful  and  profitable  branch  of  horticulture.—  Vermont  Farmer. 

Just  the  manual  for  a  beginner,  by  one  who  says  "he  is  well  rewarded  in  the  success 
attained. "  Adding,  "It  might  have  been  reached  in  half  the  time,  had  I  possessed  the 
knowledge  imparted  to  the  reader  of  this  book.'-- —Boston  Cultivator. 

Sent  Post-paid       Price,  $1,50. 
ORANGE  JUOD   &  CO.,  41   Park  Row,  New-York. 


T  H  E 

SMALL    FRUIT    CULTURIST, 


BY 


AXDREW   S.  FULLER, 
Beautifully   Illustrated. 

We  have  heretofore  had  no  work  especially  devoted  to  small 
fruits,  and  certainly  no  treatises  anywhere  that  give  the  information 
contained  in  this.  It  is  to  the  advantage  of  special  works  that  the 
author  can  say  all  that  he  has  to  say  on  any  subject,  and  not  be 
restricted  as  to  space,  as  he  must  be  in  those  works  that  cover  the 
culture  of  .all  fruits— great  and  small. 

This  book  covers  the  whole  ground  of  Propagating  Small  Fruits, 
their  Culture,  Varieties,  Packing  for  Market,  etc.  While  very  full  on 
the  other  fruits,  the  Currants  and  Raspberries  have  been  more  care- 
fully elaborated  than  ever  before,  and  in  this  important  part  of  his 
book,  the  author  has  had  the  invaluable  counsel  of  Charles  Downing. 
The  chapter  on  gathering  and  packing  the  fruit  is  a  valuable  one, 
and  in  it  are  figured  all  the  baskets  and  boxes  now  in  common  use. 
The  book  is  very  finely  and  thoroughly  illustrated,  and  makes  an 
admirable  companion  to  the  Grape  Culturist,  by  the  same  author. 


OOIVTEIVTS: 

Chap.  1.  Barberry.  Chap.  VII.  Gooseberry. 

Chap.  II.  Strawberry.  Chap.  VIII.  Cornelian  Cherry. 

Chap.  III.  Raspberry.  Cilaf.  IX.  Cranberry. 

Chap.  IV.  Blackberry.  Chap.   X.  Huckleberry. 

Chap.  V.  Dwarf  Cherry.  Chap.  XL  Sheperdia. 

Chap.  VI.  Currant.  Chap.  XII.  Preparation  fop. 

GATHERING  FRUIT. 


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